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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE 

Territory of Alaska. 

A Brief Account of Its History and Purchase ; Its Inhab- 
itants, Geographical Features and Resources, 
with especial reference to the Gold-Fields 
and Methods of Reaching Them. 



Compiled from 

Official Government Records and the Latest and Most 
Reliable Sources, 

By MAJOR H. O. S. HEIST AND, 

Assistant Adjutant-General U. S. Army. On duty in 
the Division of Military Information, Adjutant- 
General's Office, War Department. 



Washington, D. C, January 1, \ 898. 



HUDSON-KIMBERLY PUBLISHING CO. 
KANSAS CITY, MO. 

1898. 






LIBRARY f CONGRESS 
Two Cooies Received 

MAY 16 1906 

^Copyng'fit entry 



^uupyng-nt Entry 



COPY B. 



Copyright, 1898, by 

HUDSON-KIMBERLY PUBLISHING Co. 

Kansas City, Mo 



C~ 




CONTENTS. 

Chapter I. 
Location, Extent, Area, Geographical Features 9 

Chapter II. 
History 17 

Chapter III. 
Acquirement of the Territory 25 

Chapter IV. 
Climate 35 



■* 



Chapter V. 



Inhabitants, Population and Government 45 

Chapter VI. 
Resources and Industries 59 

Chapter VII. 
Gold : Discovery, Dissemination and Product 79 

Chapter VIII. 
Routes to the Gold Fields 8y 



4 CONTENTS. 

Chapter IX. 
Miners' Outfits 101 

Appendix. 

United States Mining Laws, Canadian Mining Laws, 

Etc 115 



APPENDIX. 

A. United States Mining Laws 115 

B. Canadian Mining Laws 176 

C. Glossary 1 84 

D. Fourteen Months' Supply of Provisions as stated 

by Governor Brady, of Alaska 188 

E. Table of Distances 191 

F. Newspapers Published in Alaska 193 

G. Postoffices in Alaska, November 1st, 1897 194 

H. Freight and Passenger Rates, Pacific Coast 

Steamship Company's Steamers 194 



BOOKS AND DOCUMENTS CONSULTED. 



1. — Report on the Population, Industries and Re- 
sources of Alaska by Ival Petroff, Volume VIII, 
Tenth Census Report. 

2. — Alaska Handbook No. 84, Bureau of the American 
Republics, August, 1897. 

3. — Military Reconnaissance in Alaska, Schwatka, 1897. 
(Senate Ex. Doc. No. 2, 2nd Session 49th Congress.) 

4. — Reconnaissance in Alaska, 1885, Allen. (Senate 
Ex. Doc. No. 125, 2nd Session, 49th Congress.) 



6 APPENDIX. 

5. — Alaska ; Our Arctic Province. Henry W. Elliott, 
1S86. 

6. — Encyclopaedia Britannica. 

7.— Official Guide to the Klondike Country, W. B. 
Conkey & Co., New York. 

8. — Chicago Record's Book for Gold-Seekers, Chicago 
Record, 1897. 

9. — Klondike, Charles A. Bramble, 1897. 

10. — Klondike, Miners' New Publishing Co., 1897. 

11.— The Gold-Fields of the Klondike, John W. 
Leonard, 1897. 

12.— Klondike Gold-Fields, C. A. Plempel, 1897. 

13.— Klondike and the Yukon Country, L. A. Coolidge, 
1897. 

14.— The Yukon Gold-Fields, C. H. Lugrin, 1897. 

1 5. — The Boundary between Alaska and British Colum- 
bia. (Senate Ex. Doc. No. i46, 2nd Session 50th 
Congress.) 

16. — Report of Reconnaissance in Alaska, 1885, by 
Lieutenant W. R. Abercrombie, United States 
Army. (Not published.) 

17. Bancroft's History of Alaska. 

18. — Reports of Governors of Alaska, Census Returns of 
1890. 

19. — Reports of the Secretary of the Navy, 1879 to 1896, 
inclusive. 

20. — Reports and Records on file in the State, War and 
Navy Departmentt. (Not Published.) 



APPENDIX. 7 

21. — Boundary between Alaska and British Columbia. 
(Sen. Ex. Doc. No. 146, 2nd Session 50th Con- 
gress.) 

22. — Report of the introduction of Domesticated Rein- 
deer into Alaska, Sheldon Jackson. (Senate Ex. 
Doc. No. 70, 53rd Congress, 2nd Session.) Wash- 
ington, 1894. 

23. — Current Literature. 



PREFACE TO ALASKA BY MAJOR H. O. S. 
HEISTAND. 



The original of this volume was prepared from the 
information from various sources in the Military Infor- 
mation Division of the Adjutant General's Office, to- 
gether with that collected from various Departments of 
the Government. It was later enlarged, revised and 
brought up to date from all sources of information con- 
sidered reliable, and its publication by the writer 
authorized that it might be placed within the reach of the 
public. 

The author makes grateful acknowledgment of the 
courtesy of the officers of the United States Coast and 
Geodetic Survey office, by whose permission the excel- 
lent maps and most of the photographs used as illustra- 
tions appear ; and also of valuable assistance given him 
by Major Arthur L,. Wagner, Assistant Adjutant- 
General United States Army, in charge of the Informa- 
tion Division of the Adjutant-General's Office, and 
Lieutenant H. H. Whitney, 4th United States Artil- 
lery, on duty in the same office. 

Washington, D. C, January 1, 1898. 



ALASKA. 



Chapter I. 

LOCATION, EXTENT, AREA AND GEOGRAPH- 
ICAL FEATURES. 



Alaska lies in the extreme northwestern portion of 
the continent of North America, stretching along the 
coast, and by its chain of islands out into the Pacific 
Ocean, from the 130th to the 187th meridian of longitude 
west from Greenwich, a distance of about 2,300 statute 
miles; from north to south it lies between the 50th and 
71st parallels north latitude, a distance of about 1,300 
statute miles. Its northern boundary is the Arctic 
Ocean; it is bounded on the east by British Columbia, on 
the south by the Pacific, and on the west by Behring Sea 
and the Arctic Ocean. It has a coast line, including its 
islands, of over 26,000 miles, or about five-sevenths of 
the entire coast line of the United States. At Behring 
Strait the mainland of Alaska is but 60 miles from the 
mainland of Russia, and Big Diomede Island (Russian), 
near the center of the channel, makes a convenient half- 
way landing. 

The western limit of the territory, Attu (Attoo) 
Island, is nearly 3,000 (2,943) miles west of San Fran- 
cisco. When the fisherman of Maine is just spreading 
canvas for a morning sail, the fisherman of Attu is ar- 
ranging his hut for the night. 
—2- 



1 ALASKA. 

Owing to the irregular shape of the Territory of 
Alaska, the extreme dimensions give but little idea of 
its area, which, according to the latest reliable compu- 
tations, is 577,390 statute square miles; an area larger 
than the entire territory of the United States east of 
Indiana, and twelve times the size of the State of New 
York. 

From the difference in proper names, growing out of 
native designations, those applied by the Russians, and 
still others in use by Americans, considerable confusion 
as to geographical terms has resulted, and will continue 
to exist until some means of uniformity is established 
and generally accepted. Travelers should not rely upon 
information from any but the most disinterested and 
reliable sources. 

The country is rich in geographical detail. There 
are broad extents of morass, or swampy plains (tundra), 
with a dense growth of mosses and grasses, over a frozen 
subsoil and ice which does not thaw to a greater depth 
than eighteen inches below the surface; great mountain 
ranges, with lofty peaks and active volcanoes; broad, 
undulating prairies, and extensive valleys, through 
which course mighty rivers, fed by the melting snows 
and numerous lakes and springs — these great streams, 
with their many tributaries, form a perfect network of 
waterways over the surface, and constitute the arteries 
of the scant trade and travel. Massive glaciers, hundreds 
of feet in thickness, covering in some cases over a 
thousand square miles of territory, and loaded with mo- 
raine and vegetation, slowly grind their way to the sea;* 
the adjacent ocean is studded with islands, varying in 
size from the largest — Prince of Wales Island, having 
*Ivieutenant Abercrombie (Report on' Alaska, 1885). 



ALASKA. 11 

an area of 3,009 square miles — to mere points of rock 
almost hidden at high tide, and the main coast is every- 
where indented with long arms of the sea, reaching into 
the depths of the near-by mountains. 

The capital of the Territory is Sitka, located on the 
west coast of Baranof Island, in latitude 57 degrees north 
and longitude 135 degrees west. It was established by 
Baranof in the winter of 1799-1800. The town is about 
1,300 miles from San Francisco, though by the usual 
vessel route the distance is over 1,600 miles. In 1890 
the population was 1,190. 

Juneau, founded by Joseph Juneau in 1880, with a 
population in 1890 of 1,250, is now said to be a progres- 
sive city of nearly 5,000 inhabitants, with fine buildings, 
wharves, waterworks and hotels, electric lights and 
amusements (Guide to the Yukon Gold Fields — Wilson). 

Wrangell, on Wrangell Island, a village of about 300 
souls, ten miles from the mouth of the Stikine River,is 
the point of departure for the gold fields by the way of 
the Stikine route. 

Douglas City, on Douglas Island, with a population 
of about 400, is the location of the great Treadwell gold 
mines, and what is said to be the largest quartz mill in 
the world. 

Yakutat, on the bay of the same name, has a popula- 
tion of about 300. 

Nucheck, once an important trading point, but now 
only a small village, is on Hunchinbrook Island, 50 
miles from the mouth of the Copper River. 

There were formerly important trading points on the 
Kenai Peninsula, but of recent years they have lost their 
importance. 

Kadiac Island is the seat of great Alaskan industry. 



J 2 ALASKA. 

St. Paul, in the north of the island, does a large fur 
trade, and is the seat of several canning factories, said to 
employ 1,100 hands. Karluk, with a population of 
1,123, * s sa id to have the largest cannery in the world. 
Other villages, almost equal in size, on the island, are 
Alitak and Kadiak, having a combined population of 
about 900. 

Afognac, with a population of 409, is on the* island 
of the same name. 

The Aleutian Islands, being mild in climate, were 
early occupied by the Russians, and many settlements 
resulted. On Unalaska Island there is an important 
point, Iliuliuk, having a church, custom house, stores 
and wharves. Small, thrifty villages of from 100 to 300 
are on Ounga, Unimak, Athka and the Pribylof Islands. 

Port Chester is a Chimmesyan Indian village of about 
800 people, on Annette Island. It has a steam saw-mill, 
church, shops, stores and an Industrial Home. 

St. Michael, on Norton Sound, is one of the most im- 
portant points on the coast. It was established as a 
Russian redoubt in 1835. The island has an area of 51 
square miles, all embraced within the United States 
Military Reservation. Besides the military post estab- 
lished there by the War Department in October, 1897, 
there are two trading posts of rival firms, both used as a 
base of supplies for the Upper Yukon country and the 
Arctic trade. There is also a Russian church and par- 
sonage building. Swedish and Episcopal Missions are 
on the adjacent mainland. In October, 1897, there were 
180 people on the island.* 

At Port Clarence, just south of Behring Strait, 
there is a fine harbor, where whaling vessels lay up and 

*Report of Commanding Officer, Fort St. Michael. 



ALASKA. 13 

wait for supplies. A village of about 500 people, more 
than half of whom are white, is located here, and ad- 
jacent to it is a reindeer farm. Point Hope (301 — 5 
white), Cape Smythe (246 — 46 white), Icey Cape (57) 
and Point Barrow (152) are Arctic villages. The latter 
was the point occupied by Captain P. H. Ray, United 
States Army, 188 1-3, in command of the United States 
station of the International Polar Expedition. 

Nnlato and Nuklakayat are Yukon trading posts, 467 
and 568 miles from the sea (Lieutenant Allen). Ram- 
part City is a new mining village of about 400 people, 
established in the summer of 1897, on the Yukon River, 
100 miles or so above Nuklakayat. 

Fort Yukon, established by the Hudson Bay Com- 
pany in 1847, on the Yukon River, nearly 900 (1,300 by 
water) miles from the sea, is just within the Arctic Cir- 
cle, where, in summer, the sun is visible for the entire 
24 hours. Here the Yukon River widens out to several 
miles in extent and flows through many shallow chan- 
nels over the Yukon Flats, making navigation slow and 
difficult at low water. 

Circle City, founded in 1891, 100 miles above Fort 
Yukon, had a population in 1896 of 1,150, including 
about 40 women. Missions are established there and 
hospitals proposed. It is said that many of the inhab- 
itants have abandoned the town, at least temporarily, to 
go to richer mines. 

Forty- Mile Post, near the mouth of Forty-Mile Creek, 
was at one time a thriving mining town — a true Mecca 
of the North — but it is said to have diminished in im- 
portance since the drouth of 1896 and subsequent dis- 
covery of rich diggings elsewhere. 

The principal rivers are the Yukon and its largest 



14 ALASKA. 

two tributaries, the Tanana and Koyukak; Kuskokwin, 
Copper and Sushitna. 

The principal monutains are Mount L,ogan, altitude 
19,500 feet; Mt. St. Elias, 18,010; Mt. Wrangell, 17,500; 
Mt. Tillman, 16,600; Mt. Drum, 13,300; Mt. Sanford, 
13,000; and Mt. Blackburn, 12,500. The average height 
of the main range is from 10,000 to 12,000 feet, with but 
few practicable passes. 

Fort Cudahy. — Fort Cudahy is a trading establish- 
ment in British territory, on the Yukon River at the 
mouth of Forty- Mile Creek, on which there are rich 
placer mines. There is a saw-mill in the vicinity. 

Dawson City. — Dawson City, the chief town of the 
Klondike district, was established in August, 1896. It 
is in British territory, about 50 miles east of the Alaska 
boundary, on the right banks of the Yukon and Klon- 
dike Rivers, near their junction. It is 170 miles from 
Circle City; 1,598 miles from Seattle, by the way of Ju- 
neau, and 4,722 miles by way of St. Michael. It can be 
reached from Seattle in from 35 to 90 days, according to 
the route. The townsite occupies a square of 160 acres, 
owned by Mr. Joseph L,adue, formerly a resident of New 
York State. It is laid out in regular streets and squares. 
Town lots which sold for $5.00 in 1896 were worth from 
$3,000 to $5,000 this year (1897). All of the houses are 
constructed of logs, the logs selling for $3.00 each, and 
lumber is worth $150.00 per thousand feet. Many of 
the inhabitants live in tents. The gold "diggings" are 
from 12 to 25 miles distant. 

There is a population of from 3,000 to 5,000, mostly 
citizens of the United States. There are about 75 
women and some children. The Canadian Government 
has established a post-office at Dawson City, and the mail 
is carried once a month by the members of the North- 
west Mounted Police, a Canadian military force, also 
charged with preserving order and maintaining the law. 

There are said to be a few horses, but dogs are gen- 
erally used for transportation purposes. 



ALASKA. 15 

The climate is severe, and changes are sudden. There 
is a short, hot summer, lasting from May to September, 
with practically no spring or autumn conditions — leaping 
from one extreme to the other. The ice begins to break 
up between the ist and 15th of May, and by the last of 
September winter has begun again, the month of Octo- 
ber being described as similar to the month of November 
in the northern part of the United States. The mean 
temperature does not vary much — not much more than 
25 degrees from month to month. The mean tempera- 
ture is: Spring, 14 degrees; summer, 50 degrees; autumn, 
17 degrees; winter, 30 degrees, with extremes for the 
year running from —68 to +75 or -f-100 degrees. The 
earth is frozen to the greatest depth yet excavated and 
thaws for only eighteen inches to two feet during the 
summer. The longest day of the year, June 22d, the 
sun rises at 1:30 a. m., and sets at 10:30 p. m., with good 
twilight for the rest of the day. 

The climate is healthy, and deaths have been very 
few. Mosquitoes are said to be very troublesome, and 
so small that they go through the ordinary netting. 
Game is very scarce, so that all food must be transported 
to the town from some base of supply. 

The following prices give an idea of the cost of living 
in Dawson City in the summer of 1897, and were con- 
sidered reasonable: 

Flour,* per 100 pounds $12 .00 

Bacon, per pound 1 50 

Sugar, brown, per pound .20 

Sugar, granulated, per pound .25 

Rice, per pound .20 

Condensed milk, per can .60 

Butter, per pound 1 . 50 

Eggs, per dozen 5 . 00 

Beans, per pound . 1 2-?r 

*Since writing the above, the scarcity of provisions in Daw- 
son City has caused the price of flour to rise to the almost pro- 
hibitive price of from $ioo to $125 for a 50-pound sack, and other 
provisions in proportion. Single meals at restaurants cost 
from $3.50 to $5.00. 



16 ALASKA. 

Salt, per pound $ .15 

Dried fruit, per pound $ o . 25 to .35 

Cigars, each .50 

Tobacco, per pound 1 . 50 to 2 . 00 

Blankets, per pair 1 6 . 00 to 30 . 00 

Linen shirt 5 . 00 

Underwear, per suit 10.00 

Canvas overalls 2 . 50 

Boots 10.00 to 12.00 

Suit of clothes, ready made 30.00 to 50.00 

Fur overcoat 25 . 00 to 100 . 00 

Dogs, for sleds 100 . 00 to 300 . 00 

Bread, per loaf .50 

dumber, per thousand feet. 100.00 to 200.00 

Meals at restaurant, each 1.50 

Wages, per da}' 5 . 00 to 15 . 00 

Considerable business is done in the town, and the 
place is said to be one of great activity. Gold passes 
current for money at $17.00 per ounce. There are 
restaurants, bakeries, saloons, dance halls, barber shop, 
a bath establishment, etc. At last accounts there were 
ten saloons and three restaurants. Drinks were sold at 
the uniform price of 50 cents each, and in the restaurants 
the $1.50 dinner was composed of bacon, beans, bread, 
coffee, cheese and dried fruit. The dance-hall is 80x40 
feet, with an orchestra of three pieces. There is also a 
laundry, which charges 25 cents a piece for its work. 
Gambling is prevalent among all classes, but crime is 
almost unknown. 

The Church of England has a resident minister, and 
other ministers are on the way to Dawson City. Bishop 
Bompas is the head of the diocese, which includes the 
Klondike. 



ALASKA. 17 



Chapter II. 



HISTORY. 



That portion of the territory of the United States 
known as Alaska was, up to the year 1867, borne on the 
maps of the world as Russian America. Russia held it 
by right of discovery. 

During the reign of Peter the Great was organized 
the first of the exploring expeditions which led to the 
discovery of Alaska, and gave territory' on the Western 
Hemisphere to his empire, thus enabling the Czar to ex- 
tend his dominion over three continents. He selected 
Vitus Behring, a Danish captain in the Russian service, 
to command the expedition, which set out February 5, 
1725; after sixteen years occupied in exploring the coast 
and waters of Siberia, Alaska was sighted. The Czar 
died three days after the expedition started. 

In 1733 Empress Anna fitted out the second expedi- 
tion. It occupied six years crossing Siberia, and in the 
spring of 1741 Captain Behring, with two small vessels, 
one commanded by himself, and the other by lieutenant 
Chirikof, put out from Kamchatka, on the waters of 
Behring Sea. The vessels became permanently sepa- 
rated. On the night of July 15, 1741, Chirikof sighted 
land in latitude 55 21' north, which is near the extreme 



IS ALASKA. 

point of the mainland of the Alaskan Peninsula. Sub- 
sequently it became known that Chirikof's discovery 
preceded by thirty-six hours Behring's first sight of the 
mainland of Alaska. Chirikof sent two landing parties 
ashore, and the members were massacred by the natives. 
The commander, with his reduced crew, returned to 
Kamchatka, after a period of intense suffering and hard- 
ship. Many of his men, including himself, were seized 
with scurvy. Chirikof was among the number who 
recovered. 

Captain Behring landed on the coast, and shortly af- 
terward returned to his ship, weighed anchor and set 
sail for Kamchatka, but his vessel was wrecked on what 
is now known as Behring Island, in the Commander 
group, where his crew spent the winter, many of them 
dying, the remainder living in dugouts in the sandbanks 
of a small stream and subsisting on sea animals which 
they captured and the flesh of dead whales thrown upon 
the beach, until the following spring, when the few sur- 
vivors constructed a boat of the timbers of the wrecked 
vessel and made their way to Siberia. Behring died on 
the island December 8, 1741. 

There is no record of any effort to visit the country 
until 1743, when expeditions to engage in the fur busi- 
ness were inaugurated by the Russian merchants. The 
first adventurer of this class was Emelia Bassof, a Cossack 
sergeant of L,ower Kamchatka, who made four voyages 
to the Commander Islands in 1743, 1745, 1747 and 1749. 
He was followed by a sailor named Nevodchikof, who 
reached the islands of Attu and Agatu in 1745. In 1749 
a vessel reached the island of Athka and others in its 
vicinity. In 1759 a trader, Glottof, advanced as far as 
the island of Oumnak, and subsequently discovered the 



ALASKA. • 19 

whole group of islands, including Unalaska (Oonalashka), 
now known as the Fox Islands. Glottof, so say the tra- 
ditions of the natives of those islands, was the first Rus- 
sian who came among them; he furnished a map of the 
region to his government. In 1760 Andreian Tolstykh 
landed on the island of Adakh, where he remained three 
years, and completely explored the island, and rendered 
a detailed report of his operations and their results to the 
Russian Government. 

In 1 76 1 a ship belonging to the merchant Bechevin 
reached the mainland of the Alaskan Peninsula. By this 
time the continued oppression of the natives by the 
traders aroused the former's fury and brought on a series 
of conflicts covering a period of more than twenty years, 
in which many lives were sacrificed. 

August 3, 1784, there landed on Kadiak Island a 
trader named Shelikhof, who, for many years, operated on 
a large scale. Shelikhof established peaceful relations 
with the Indians, when possible, and failing in that, 
fought them with vigor. He was victorious in so many 
conflicts that it enabled him to establish a large number 
of outposts for hunting parties. After a victory, he held 
hostages to insure the good behavior of the savages. 
Shelikhof was a shrewd trader and a bitter foeman, though 
possessed of a kindly disposition. For his hostages, 
prisoners and the friendly natives he established schools 
and churches of the Greek Catholic faith. His argu- 
ments setting forth the advantages the natives would 
secure by embracing Christianity and adopting civiliza- 
tion, being simple and practical, always met with hearty 
response. Many of the natives were baptized and re- 
ceived into orthodox membership. Shelikhof returned 
to Russia in 1787, taking with him thirty natives. 



20 ALASKA. 

The estimated population of Alaska at that time was 
about 5,000 souls, but it is not reliable. 

In 1790 another trader, Baranof, owing to a series of 
misfortunes in his own affairs, was tempted to accept an 
interest in the business established by his rival, Sheli- 
khof, and arrived in Alaska to assume control of the 
latter's fur interests in the new country. The extra- 
ordinary energy and decision displayed by Baranof in 
the management of his own affairs in Siberia had long 
attracted the attention of Shelikhof. 

To the ability and efforts of Baranof is due the final 
establishment of the Russian Empire on the continent 
of North America. 

In the meantime, Captain Cook had visited the coast, 
but the Russians were fully acquainted with the result 
of his voyages and visits to the northwest of America. 
Gerassim Pribylof had also discovered the summer 
haunts of the fur seal herd on the islands which now 
bear his name. The result of this discovery was to se- 
cure to Russia the formerly lost trade with the Chinese, 
who placed high value upon the fur of the seal, in the 
tanning and coloring of which they had become expert. 
July 20, 1795, Shelikhof died, but his widow continued 
the management of the company's affairs. Before his 
death Shelikhof had sought the union of all the various 
companies trading in Asiatic Russia and the American 
Colonies. In 1797 the consolidation was effected, and 
the new firm, under the name of the Russian- American 
Company, received a charter from the Russian Govern- 
ment, granting it the exclusive right to all territory and 
resources of water and land in the new Russian posses- 
sions for a period of twenty years. This charter, granted 
by the Emperor Paul in 1799, marks an era in the 



ALASKA. 21 

Alaskan history; from that time to its cession to the 
United States, the history of the territory is the history 
of the Russian- American Company. Baranof, who had 
shown so much skill and ability in extending business, 
continued to conduct the affairs of the company in 
Alaska. He was a man of great determination, courage 
and physical endurance, but, through his quarrelsome 
disposition, made numerous enemies, and became the 
victim of conspiracy and treachery. In 1808 the com- 
pany commissioned his successor, who, however, died 
before leaving Kamchatka. After the discovery of a 
plot to kill him in 1809, Baranof showed evidence of a 
broken spirit, and the effects of old age and constant 
struggle became plainly visible. 

Finally, in 18 17, Captain Hagemeister was sent to 
Sitka, with instructions to relieve Baranof as chief man- 
ager of the Colonies. Hagemeister concealed his real 
capacity for several months after his arrival, and spent 
the time in familiarizing himself with the affairs of the 
company until January 11, 18 18, when suddenly he pro- 
duced his commission and ordered Baranof to turn over 
his command. The old man promptly complied, and, 
although millions had passed through his hands, so con- 
scientious had he been in his relations with the company, 
and so little attention had he paid to his private affairs, 
that, at the age of 80 years, he found himself poor and 
in feeble health. Baranof started back to Russia in the 
" Kutuzof," the ship which had brought Hagemeister to 
Sitka. At Batavia, where the vessel was detained for a 
few days, he went ashore and contracted malarial fever, 
from the effects of which the creator of Russian America 
died, April 16, 18 19. Hagemeister conducted the affairs 
of the company until 1821, when he was relieved by 



22 ALASKA. 

Mikhail Ivauovich Muraviev, who occupied himself with 
the organization of colonies and extending the trade of 
the company, whose charter had been renewed. Under 
Muraviev's administration the boundary of the Russian 
possessions in America was established. The treaty 
with the United States was concluded April 17, 1824, 
and that with England on February 28, 1825. During 
his administration (1823), the priest Mordovsky, with 
his assistant missionary monks, arrived and spread the 
gospel among the natives with such vigor that at the 
end of three years the Russian Church in the Colonies 
had 10,561 communicants, of whom 8,532 were natives; 
schools were established at Sitka, Kadiak and Una- 
laska. 

In 1826 Muraviev was succeeded by Captain Chis- 
tiakof, whose administration was marked by the ex- 
ploration and mapping of the Alaskan coast and islands. 

Chistiakof, after a prosperous administration, was 
relieved in 1831 by Baron Wrangell, who made a con- 
tinuous, though unsuccessful, effort to destroy the 
English establishment, the Hudson Bay Company, which 
had grown to be a strong and dangerous rival of the 
Russian-American Company. 

In 1836 Baron Wrangell departed, and Captain Ku- 
prianof assumed the direction of affairs, and turned 
his attention to the extension of the company's interests 
toward the north, and in 1838 had reached out by ex- 
ploring parties as far as Point Barrow. The Yukon, 
then called Kvikhpak, was ascended as far as Nulato. 
From 1836 to 1840 small-pox ravaged the settlements, 
and nearly 2,000 deaths resulted, mostly among the 
natives. 

In 1840 Captain Etholin was appointed chief manager 









ALASKA. 23 

of the Colonies. Etholin found great distress as the re- 
sult of the small-pox scourge, and occupied himself with 
gathering the scattered inhabitants into larger villages, 
where their wants could be more easily made known and 
provided for. Aided by his wife, he engaged in philan- 
thropic work in the education of the young Creoles and 
natives. 

Etholin was succeeded in 1845 by Captain (subse- 
quently Admiral) Tebenkof, whose attention was largely 
occupied gathering the data necessary to the comple- 
tion of what Mr. Petroff calls " the best atlas of the coast 
of Alaska ever published." Tebenkof, like his imme- 
diate predecessors, knew but little about the fur trade, 
and the shares of the company's stock continued to de- 
crease in value. 

Tebenkof was succeeded in 1851 by Captain Rosen- 
berg, who in turn was relieved by Captain Voievodsky 
under whose administration the affairs of the company 
continually grew worse, and its obligations increased to 
such an extent that efforts were made to transfer to the 
Government the expense of maintaining its authority in 
the Colonies. Russia having just emerged from the ex- 
pensive Crimean War, the Imperial Cabinet rejected the 
proposition, and the grant of a new charter was deferred 
from year to year. 

Voievodsky was relieved by Captain Furuhelm in 
1859, but the company refused to select his successor 
until its charter was renewed. In the meantime, Gov- 
ernment officials were gathering information and pre- 
paring reports upon the condition of the company's af- 
fairs, but their reports were too conflicting to form a 
basis of intelligent action. 

Early in 1864 it is said that the United States Gov- 



24 ALASKA. 

eminent was approached privately in regard to the pur- 
chase by it of Russian America. The matter was 
allowed to drop, however, owing to the war, then in 
progress. 

In 1865 the managers of the Western Union Tele- 
graph Company sought a route, by way of Behring 
Strait, for a wire to Europe. Its surveying parties, dur- 
ing that and the following year, were actively engaged 
cutting a trail 120 feet wide, which, though much over- 
grown, is still plainly seen through the forests on their 
line. The enterprise was abandoned, owing to the suc- 
cessful completion of the transatlantic cable. 

After the refusal of the Russian-American Company 
to appoint a new chief manager, the Emperor of Russia 
sent out Prince Maksutof as Military Governor. Mak- 
sutof remained in that capacity until the Territory was 
transferred to the United States, and was some time after 
his appointment invested with full powers by the Rus- 
sian-American Company, assumed control of its affairs 
and closed out its business. 




JUNEAU WATER FRONT. 



ALASKA. 25 



Chapter III. 



ACQUIREMENT OF THE TERRITORY— EXPLO- 
RATION. 



In the year 1867 Russia, for a consideration of 
$7,200,000 in gold, ceded all the territory and dominion 
then possessed by her on the Western Continent to the 
United States. The original price agreed upon was 
$7,000,000, but when it was understood that there ex- 
isted in the Territory some fur and ice monopolies 
granted by the Russian Government, to quiet their 
claims and prevent the possibility of subsequent compli- 
cations, an additional sum of $200,000 was added to the 
purchase money, to free the country of all incumbrances. 
The treaty describing the boundary was signed March 
30, 1867, in the City of Washington, by Hon. William 
H. Seward, Secretary of State, for the United States, and 
by Privy Counsellor Edward de Stoeckl, Russian Minis- 
ter to the United States, for his country. The treaty 
was ratified by the United States Senate May 28, 1867, 
and the proclamation of the President, setting forth its 
terms in the French and English languages, was issued 
on the 20th of June, 1867. 

Alaska is therefore the last acquisition of territory by 

the United States. At the time of its purchase the 

price, less then than two cents per acre, was, by a great 

many people, declared excessive, and Mr. Seward met 

with great opposition to his project in the United States 

Senate, and was the subject of much ridicule by the press 
—3— 



26 ALASKA. 

of the county; but calculating the possible development 
of the future, based upon discoveries already made, the 
territory proclaims his sagacity and reflects the wisdom 
of his policy. In August commissioners were appointed 
by Russia and the United States to complete the formal 
transfer of the territory. The $7,200,000 had not yet 
been appropriated by Congress, but Russia, reposing en- 
tire confidence in the good faith of the United States, 
signified her readiness to make the delivery without 
waiting for payment. Major-General L,. H. Rousseau, of 
the United States Army, and Captain Pestchouroff, of the 
Russian Navy, were the commissioners. The transfer 
was made October 18, 1867, at 3:30 in the afternoon, 
with suitable ceremony. General Rousseau's report to 
the Secretary of State says : 

" The day was bright and beautiful. We fixed the 
hour of three and a half o'clock for the transfer. Gen- 
eral Jefferson C. Davis, commanding the troops, Captain 
McDougal, of the 'Jamestown,' Captain Bradford, of 
the 'Resaca,' and the officers of their respective com- 
mands, as, also, the Govertior of the Territory, Prince 
Maksutof, were notified and invited to be present. The 
command of General Davis, about two hundred and fifty 
strong, marched up to the top of the eminence on w T hich 
stands the Governor's house, where the transfer was to 
be made. 

"At the same time a company of Russian soldiers 
were marching to the ground, and took their place upon 
the left of the flag-staff, from which the Russian flag was 
then floating. Prince Maksutof and the Princess, to- 
gether with many Russian and American citizens, and 
some Indians, were present. 

"It was arranged by Captain Pestchouroff and myself 



ALASKA. 27 

that in firing the salutes on the exchange of flags, the 
United States should lead off, in accordance with your 
instructions, and that there should be alternate guns 
from the American and Russian batteries, thus giving 
the flags of each nation a double national salute ; the 
naval salute being thus answered in the moment it was 
given. The troops were brought to ' present arms,' the 
signal given to fire the salute, and the ceremony was be- 
gun by lowering the Russian flag. The United States 
flag (the one given us for that purpose, by your direction 
from Washington) then began its ascent, and again the 
salutes were fired as before, the Russian water battery 
leading off. The flag was so hoisted that, in the instant 
it reached its place, the report of the last gun of the 
1 Ossippee ' reverberated from the mountains around. 
The salutes completed, Captain Pestchouroff said : 

" ' General Rousseau, by authority from His Majesty, 
the Emperor of Russia, I transfer to the United States 
the Territory of Alaska.' And, in as few words, I ac- 
knowledged the acceptance of the transfer, and the cere- 
mony was at an end. Cheers were then spontaneously 
given by the citizens present." — Seward in Washi?igto?i 
— Seward, F. W. 

The United States flag used upon the occasion is 
now deposited in the State Department at Washington. 

Of the ceremony, Mr. Petroff says : 

"'The Princess Maksutof wept at the spectacle. * * 
'* * The native Indians, in their canoes, witnessed it 
from a distance, listening stolidly to the booming of 
cannon, and gazing with indifference upon the descend- 
ing and ascending flags. Of the nature of the proceed- 
ings they had a faint and imperfect conception ; but one 
thing they did realize — that the country they once 



28 ALASKA. 

imagined their own was now being transferred to a 
strange people, by what must have appeared to them a 
strange ceremony." 

Many names, such as Sitka, Yukon, Aleutia, etc., 
were suggested for the new Territory, but Mr. Seward, 
with whom the final decision rested, chose Alaska as be- 
ing " brief, euphonious and suitable." The word is a 
corruption of Al-ay-ek-sa — the name given by the native 
islanders to the mainland. 

Almost immediately after the annexation of the Terri- 
tory by the United States, the eastern boundary became 
the subject of informal discussion between this country 
and Great Britain, and in his annual message to Con- 
gress, December 2, 1872, President Grant recommended 
the appointment of a joint commission to fix the bound- 
ary, but Congress took no action, and the matter rested 
for several years. On May 17, 1886, President Cleve- 
land transmitted to Congress copies of correspondence 
between Secretary Bayard and Minister Phelps upon the 
subject, and recommended an appropriation of $100,000 
to cover the expense of a preliminary survey of the 
frontier. Conferences between representatives of the 
two governments have been held since, but no joint re- 
sults have been reached. Surveying parties of both the 
United States and Canadian Governments have been at 
work independently along the 141st meridian, and their 
work closely agrees. At one point the difference is but 
6 feet 7 inches, and at another between 500 and 600 feet, 
and when a comparison of results is finally made, even 
closer approximation is expected. So far as the border 
marked by the 141st meridian west from Greenwich is 
concerned, the only difficulty is the location of that me- 
ridian, which becomes more difficult from the fact that 



ALASKA. 29 

the stars which are usually observed in such work are 
obscured during the working season of the year by the 
almost continuous daylight. That portion of the border 
which follows the chain of mountains parallel to the 
coast line is more difficult to survey, and its exact lo- 
cation on the ground is yet to be determined and 
marked. 

Shortly after the United States acquired the Territory, 
it was visited by General H. W. Halleck, United States 
Army, then in command of the Division of the Pacific, 
and on October 29th of that year Battery H, Second 
Artillery, and Company F, Ninth Infantry, under com- 
mand of Colonel Jefferson C. Davis, Twenty-third United 
States Infantry, took station at Sitka. 

General George H. Thomas succeeded General Hal- 
leck in command of the Division of the Pacific, and vis- 
ited the Territory in 1869. The transfer of Alaska 
Territory had taken place on October 18, 1867, but quar- 
ters for the troops were not available until the 29th. 
March 18, 1868, the Military Department of Alaska was 
created, with Colonel Jefferson C. Davis, Twenty-third 
United States Infantry, in command. In June of the 
same year the occupying force was increased by the ad- 
dition of Batteries E, F, G and I, of the Second Artillery. 
Continually from the time of original military occupa- 
tion, until 1877, different points in Alaska Territory 
were garrisoned by United States troops. The principal 
posts were Sitka, on Baranof Island ; Fort Tongass, on 
Tongass Island; Fort Wrangell, on Wrangell Island; 
and Fort Kadiac, on Kadiac (Kadiak) Island, in St. Paul's 
Harbor. The last troops were withdrawn from the Ter- 
ritory in June, 1877. During the ten years of military 
occupation, the following troops served in Alaska : 



30 ALASKA. 

TROOPS. PROM TO 

2d Artillery, C June 2, 1871 January 4, 1873 

" E April 29, 1868 October 7, 1870 

11 F August 2, 1868 October 3, 1870 

G June 6, 1868 September 18, 1880 

* " H October 29, 1867 October 7, 1870 

" H June 27, 1872 January 4, 1873 

" I October 8, 1868 June 29, 1872 

t4th " A June 14, 1876 June 15, 1877 

" C December 28, 1872 August 18, 1874 

" D December 28, 1872 August 18, 1874 

" F August 16, 1874 June 17, 1876 

t " G June 14, 1876 June 14, 1877 

" L August 16, 1874 June 17, 1876 

" M June 17, 1876 June 14, 1877 

*9th Infantry, F October 29, 1867 May, 1869 

21st " B , .August 18, 1875 November 9, 1876 

23d " E July 3, 1869 June 3, 1871 

After the withdrawal of the troops in 1877, there was no mil- 
itary occupation of the Territory for two years. 

In May, 1879, there was a threatened outbreak of Indians, 
and the United States ship "Jamestown," Commander L,. A. 
Beardsley, took station and remained about three years in Alas- 
kan waters to protect citizens and property. Efforts at survey- 
ing and exploration were made by the Navy, but the "James- 
town," being a sailing vessel, could not ascend the rivers, and 
little progress in the work was made. 

Since their entry into Alaskan waters, in 1879, naval 
forces have been maintained there. The vessels most 
notable in this service are the " Wachusett," " Adams," 
"Pinta," "Thetis" and " Alert." The revenue cutters 
" Bear," " Corwin " and " Rush " have performed nota- 
ble service in Alaskan waters in executing the laws and 
relieving distress. 

Concerning the service of the United States Marines 
in the Territory, Colonel Heywood, Commandant of the 
Corps, under date of November 16, 1897, says: 

"In August, 1884, a guard, consisting of one lieu- 

*First troops ordered to Alaska. 
TLast troops in Alaska. 



ALASKA, 31 

tenant and twenty enlisted men, was ordered to the U. 
S. S. " Pinta," stationed at Sitka, Alaska, and were quar- 
tered on shore in the old Russian barracks. The guard 
was increased from time to time, as the necessities of the 
service required. 

" On June i, 1892, the Marine Barracks was finished, 
and a post was established, under the command of a 
captain. 

"On November 16, 1896, the strength of the com- 
mand was again increased to forty-four enlisted men, 
which is still the complement. 

" The duties of the command are to protect the Naval 
Storehouse and keep order in the Territory, looking out 
for the Indians, or any disturbance that may arise, upon 
the request of the Governor." 

In 1897, owing to the increased interest in Alaska, 
caused chiefly by the report of rich gold mines therein , 
the War Department dispatched a military force to the 
Territory to protect American citizens and render prompt 
aid, if necessary, to distressed travelers. Captain P. H. 
Ray, Eighth Infantry, accompanied by Lieutenant W. 
P. Richardson, of the same regiment, proceeded in ad- 
vance to the Yukon country to investigate and report 
existing conditions, and were followed by Lieutenant- 
Colonel George M. Randall, Eighth Infantry, with a 
small force of infantry, to Saint Michael, where they ar- 
rived October 9th, and a military post was established. 
A military reservation has been set aside, as described 
in the following order : 

"WAR DEPARTMENT, 

" Washington, October 20, 1897. 
"i, By authority of the President, the land known 
as St. Michael Island, Alaska, with all contiguous land 



32 ALASKA. 

and islands within one hundred miles of the location of 
the flagstaff of the present garrison on that island, is 
set aside from the public lands of the Territory of Alaska 
and declared a military reservation. 

" Parties who have, prior to the receipt of this order, 
located and erected buildings on the land so reserved, 
will not be disturbed in their use of lands, buildings and 
improvements, nor in the erection of structures needed 
for their business or residence. 

" 2. The military reservation above declared, and the 
military post located thereon, will be known as Fort St. 
Michael, and will be under the control and supervision 
of the commanding officer of the troops there stationed. 

" R. A. Ai<ger, 
" Secretary of War." 

Captain P. H. Ray has also selected a military reser- 
vation, ten miles square, at the mouth of the Tanana 
River, and posted the same.* 

No important effort at exploration, and no informa- 
tion concerning the interior further than that gained 
from accounts by natives and prospectors, was obtained 
until the spring of 1883, when Brigadier-General (now 
Major-General) Nelson A. Miles, commanding the De- 
partment of the Columbia, ordered his aide-de-camp, 
Lieutenant F. Schwatka, Third Cavalry, to Alaska to 
make a military reconnaissance of the Territory. Lieu- 
tenant Schwatka, with his party, seven in all, left Port- 
land, Oregon, May 22, 1883, and proceeded by steamer 
to the Alexander Archipelago, where a couple of weeks 
were spent in becoming acquainted with the various 
bands of Thlinket Indians, who inhabit the islands and 
coast. They then ascended to Dyea Inlet, crossed over 

*%etter to the Secretary of War, September 15, 1897, 



ALASKA. 33 

the Chilkoot Pass June ioth, and traveled from its head- 
waters down the Yukon to its mouth, where they arrived 
the latter part of August. A week was spent at St. 
Michael. Upon the return trip the Aleutian Islands 
were visited, and the journey continued to San Fran- 
cisco, arriving there October 5th. lieutenant Schwatka's 
report, with maps and illustrations, was published as 
United States Senate Executive Document No. 2, Second 
Session, Forty-eighth Congress. 

In 1884 Lieutenant (now Captain) W. R. Abercrom- 
bie, Second United States Infantry, conducted an explor- 
ing expedition in the region of the Copper River and the 
coast and adjacent islands, as far as the 147th meridian. 

In 1885 Lieutenant Henry T. Allen, Second United 
States Cavalry, commanded an exploring expedition 
which traveled the region of the Copper, Tanana and 
Koyukuk Rivers. His interesting illustrated report, 
with maps of the country over which he traveled, was 
published as Senate Executive Document No. 125, Sec- 
ond Session, Forty-ninth Congress. 



ALASKA. 35 



Chapter IV. 



CLIMATE. 



" For hot, cold, moist and dry, four champions fierce, strive 
here for mastery." — Milton. 



With reference to climate, Alaska may be separated 
into two divisions: the one, Southern Alaska, embrac- 
ing the sea-coast below St. Michael and the various out- 
lying islands ; the other including all the Territory to the 
north and beyond the coast range of mountains. 

The climate in the southern portion of Alaska is 
mild and moist; said to be due to the warm Japanese 
current which sweeps the western coast — one branch 
entering Behring Sea and preventing the southern flow 
of ice and the other bringing to the southeastern portion 
of the coast a moisture-laden atmosphere, responsible 
for the great annual rainfall there and on the neighbor- 
ing islands. From the report of Mr. Ivan Petroff, 
special United States Agent for the Tenth Census, it is 
learned that observations on the Aleutian Islands by 
the missionary Veniaminof, covering a period of more 
than seven years, showed 53 clear days, 1,263 rainy 
days and 1,230 days of rain, snow or hail. The same 
authority, speaking of the Kadiak neighborhood, says 
that observations covering a period of fifty years showed 
a minimum temperature of —4 degrees and a maximum 
of +84 degrees — certainly very moderate extremes; the 
rain-fall for the same period averaged 80 inches per 



36 ALASKA. 

year, and several years the rain-fall exceeded 90 inches, 
and once reached 103 inches for a single year; the 
average number of rainy days per year was 165 and of 
snow 33, but several years the number of rainy days 
reached 250, and once 264 ; the highest number of snowy 
days for an}' j^ear was 44. 

Speaking of the temperature of St. Michael Island 
and vicinity, Mr. Petroff quotes from K. W. Nelson's re- 
port in 1880 to the Chief Signal Officer of the Army, as 
follows : 

" During the past four years the first mush ice 
has begun to form in the bays from the 15th to the 18th 
of October, and the bays have been frozen so as to bear 
a man from the 25th to the 28th of October, with the ex- 
ception of the year 1878, when a strong wind took the 
ice out, and it did not freeze again until the 10th of No- 
vember. Up to the 15th of October vessels could enter 
here without danger of meeting ice. In the spring 
much more uncertainty exists, as to a great extent the 
date of open water depends upon what the prevailing 
winds may be. Iyong-continued north winds, following 
a severe winter, as in 1880, may keep the ice barrier in 
until the 20th of June, and it has even remained until 
nearly the first of July ; but these late dates are excep- 
tional. As a rule, the ice will be thoroughly broken up 
and a strong vessel may enter Norton Sound through the 
ice by the 10th of June. Between the 20th of June and 
the 1st of July may be called safe dates for any vessel 
except in an unusual season, as during a large part 
of June fine weather prevails. 

"As in most other places under high latitudes, there is 
no long gradation from season to season, but instead we 
have two well marked periods — a long winter of about 



ALASKA. 37 

seven months, extending from October until well into 
May, and five months of summer. The winter is by far 
the best, as there are long periods of beautifully clear 
days, which are welcomed in spite of the usually 
accompanying intense cold. The summer is rendered 
very disagreeable by a large number of cold, misty rains, 
and the low, overhanging stratum, which appears to shut 
down all about like a leaden covering." 

In the other division of the Territory, across the coast 
range of mountains, including the Upper Yukon Basin 
where the present well-known gold-fields exist, very dif- 
ferent climatic conditions prevail. In this division the 
air is dry and clear. There is but little rain in the sum- 
mer and the snow-fall in winter does not usually exceed 
two feet in the vicinity of Fort Cudahy, though it is as 
much as twenty feet along the coast, where the effect of 
the Japanese current is felt. 

The extremes of temperature, however, are very 
great, ranging, if reports of returned miners are accepted, 
from — 72 in winter to +112 degrees in summer. In 
winter the air is filled with frozen particles like frost, 
which, continually falling, keep the surface of the ground 
covered with a light, feathery coating of snow, and Mr. 
Harry De Windt, the explorer, reports ice 13 feet thick 
on the Yukon River. 

In the northern portion of the Territory, and indeed 
sometimes (though rarely) as far south as Dyea and 
Juneau, there occurs at irregular intervals, a storm of pe- 
culiar violence, known locally as the " takou " (taku) ; the 
storm usually continues for a half hour or more, during 
which the wind blows with terrifically destructive force, 
always from the mountains toward the sea, and may be 
accompanied by blinding snow or sleet. The takou is 



38 ALASKA. 

well known to the inhabitants of the North, where it is 
dreaded more than is the blizzard or the cyclone in 
the regions of their wrath. 

A report recently prepared by Chief Willis L. Moore, 
of the United States Weather Bureau, on the climate of 
Alaska, is as follows : 

"The general conception of Alaskan climate is 
largely due to those who go down to the sea in ships, 
and this is not strange when we consider the vast extent 
of shore line — over 26,000 miles, possessed by that Terri- 
tory. The climate of the coast and the interior are 
unlike in many respects, and the differences are intensi- 
fied in this, as perhaps in few other countries, by excep- 
tional physical conditions. The natural contrast be- 
tween land and sea is here tremendously increased by the 
current of warm water that impinges on the coast 
of British Columbia, one branch flowing northward to- 
ward Sitka and thence westward to the Kadiak and 
Shumagin Islands. 

"The fringe of islands that separates the mainland 
from the Pacific Ocean from Dixon Sound northward, 
and also a strip of the mainland for possibly twenty 
miles back from the sea, following the sweep of the 
coast, as it curves to the northwestward, to the western 
extremity of Alaska, form a distinct climate division, 
which may be termed temperate Alaska. The tem- 
perature rarely falls to zero ; winter does not set in until 
December 1st, and by the last of May the snow has dis- 
appeared except in the mountains. The mean winter 
temperature of Sitka is 32.5 degrees, but little less than 
that of Washington, D. C. While Sitka is fully exposed 
to the sea influences, places farther inland, but not over 
the coast lange of mountains, as Killisnoo and Juneau, 



ALASKA. 39 

have also mild temperatures throughout the winter 
months. The temperature changes from month to 
month in temperate Alaska are small, not exceeding 
twenty-five degrees from mid-winter to mid-summer. 
The average temperature of July, the warmest month of 
summer, rarely reaches fifty-five degrees, and the highest 
temperature of a single day seldom reaches seventy-five 
degrees. 

"The rain-fall of temperate Alaska is notorious the 
world over, not only as regards the quantity that falls, 
but also as to the manner of its falling — viz., in 
long and incessant rains and drizzles. Cloud and 
fog naturally abound, there being on an average but 66 
clear days in the year. 

"Alaska is a land of striking contrasts, both in climate 
as well as topography. When the sun shines, the atmos- 
phere is remarkably clear ; the scenic effects are mag- 
nificeut; all nature seems to be in holiday attire. But 
the scene may change very quickly : the sky becomes 
overcast ; the winds increase in force ; rain begins to fall ; 
the evergreens sigh ominously, and utter desolation and 
loneliness prevail. 

" North of the Aleutian Islands the coast climate 
becomes more rigorous in winter, but in summer the 
difference is much less marked. Thus, at St. Michael, a 
short distance north of the mouth of the Yukon, the 
mean summer temperature is fifty degrees, but four de- 
grees cooler than Sitka. The mean summer temperature 
of Point Barrow, the most northerly point in the United 
States, is 36.8 degrees, but four-tenths of a degree less 
than the temperature of the air flowing across the 
summit of Pike's Peak, Colorado. 

"The rain-fall of the coast region north of the Yu- 



40 ALASKA. 

kon Delta is small, diminishing to less than ten inches 
within the Arctic Circle. 

"The climate of the interior, including in that designa- 
tion practically all of the country except a narrow fringe 
of coastal margin and the territory before referred to 
as temperate Alaska, is one of extreme rigor in winter, 
with a brief but relatively hot summer, especially when 
the sky is free from clouds. 

" In the Klondike region in mid- winter the sun 
rises from 9:30 to 10 a. m. and sets from 2 to 3 p. 
m., the total length of daylight being about four 
hours. Remembering that the sun rises but a few de- 
grees above the horizon, and that it is wholly ob- 
scured on a great many days, the character of the winter 
months may easily be imagined. 

"We are indebted to the United States Coast and 
Geodetic Survey for a series of six month's observa- 
tions on the Yukon, not far from the site of the present 
gold discoveries. The observations were made with 
standard instruments and are wholly reliable. The mean 
temperature of the months Ootober, 1889, to April, 189c, 
both inclusive, are as follows : October, 33 degrees ; 
November, 8 degrees ; December, 1 1 degrees below zero ; 
January, 17 degrees below zero; February, 15 degrees 
below zero; March, 6 degrees above zero; April, 20 
degrees above. The daily mean temperature fell and re- 
mained below the freezing point (32) from November 4, 
1889, to April 2i, 1890, thus giving 168 days as the 
length of the closed season of 1889-90, assuming the out- 
door operations are controlled by temperature only. 

" The lowest temperatures registered during the win- 
ter were : 32 degrees below zero in November, 47 de- 
grees below in December, 59 below in January, 55 below 
in February, 45 below in March, 26 below in April. 



ALASKA. 41 

"The greatest continuous cold occurred in February ? 
1890, when the daily mean for five consecutive days 
was 47 degrees below zero. The weather moderated 
slightly about the first of March, but the temperature 
still remained below the freezing point. Generally 
cloudy weather prevailed, there being but three con- 
secutive days in any month with clear weather during the 
whole winter. Snow fell on about one-third of the days 
in winter and a less number in the early spring and late 
fall months. 

" Greater cold than that here noted has been ex- 
perienced in the United States for a very short time, but 
never has it continued so very cold for so long a time. 
In the interior of Alaska the winter sets in as early 
as September, when snow-storms may be expected in 
the mountains and passes. Headway during one of 
these storms is impossible, and the traveler who is over- 
taken by one of them is indeed fortunate if he 
escapes with his life. Snow-storms of great severity 
may occur in any month from September to May, in 
elusive. 

" The changes of temperature from winter to sum. 
mer are rapid, owing to the great increase in the length 
of the day. In May the sun rises at about 3 a. m. 
and sets about 9 p. m. In June it rises about 1:30 in the 
morning and sets at 10:30, giving about twenty hours of 
daylight, and diffused twilight the remainder of the time. 

" The mean summer temperature of the interior doubt- 
less ranges between 60 and 70 degrees, according to ele- 
vation, being highest in the middle and lower Yukon 
valleys." 

As a natural result of these climatic conditions the 

warm weather brings myriads of mosquitoes, the larvae 
—4— 



42 \I.\8KA. 

of which are deposited in the damp moss which every- 
where covers the ground ; there they remain protected 
during the severity of the winter, and as soon as the snow 
melts the vicious insects are released. Mr. Petroff, 
speaking especially of the Kuskokwim region, though 
the same complaint is made by travelers from all sec- 
tions of the Territory, says : 

" There is a feature in this country which, though 
insignificant on paper, is to the traveler the most ter- 
rible and poignant infliction he can be called upon to 
bear in a new land. ( I refer to the clouds of blood- 
thirsty mosquitoes, accompanied by a vindictive ally in 
the shape of a small, poisonous black fly, under the stress 
of whose persecution the strongest man with the firmest 
will must either feel depressed or succumb to low fever. 
They hold their carnival of human torment from the first 
growing of spring vegetation in May until it is withered 
by frosts late in September. Breeding here as the}' do in 
the vast net-work of slough and swamp, they are able to 
rally around and to infest the wake and the progress of 
the explorer beyond all adequate description, and 
language is simply unable to portray the misery and 
annoyance accompanying their presence. It will natu- 
rally be asked, How do the natives bear this? They, 
too, are annoyed and suffer, but it should be borne 
in mind that their bodies are anointed with rancid 
oil and certain ammoniacal vapors peculiar to their 
garments from constant wear have a repellant power 
which even the mosquitoes, blood-thirsty and cruel as 
they are, are hardly equal to meet. When traveling, the 
natives are, however, glad enough to seize upon any 
piece of mosquito net, no matter how small, and usually 
they have to wrap cloths or skins about their heads 



ALASKA. 43 

and wear mittens in mid-summer. The traveler who ex- 
poses his bare eyes or face here loses his natural ap- 
pearance ; his eyelids swell up and close and his face be- 
comes one mass of lumps and fiery pimples. Mosquitoes 
torture the Indian dogs to death, especially if one of 
these animals, by mange or otherwise, loses an incon- 
siderable portion of his thick, hairy covering, and even 
drive the bear and the deer into the water." 



ALASKA. 45 



Chapter V. 



INHABITANTS, POPULATION AND 
GOVERNMENT. 



The inhabitants of Alaska are, for the greater part, 
natiyes. Many have become semi- civilized, while others 
still cling strictly to their original modes of living 
and tribal customs. Mission schools here and there, as 
well as others conducted by the traders, have been long 
established, and some have produced expert copyists, 
clerks and bookkeepers. Natives are found who speak 
Russian or a few words of English, but ordinarily, be- 
yond that, with the exception of the Chimmesyan, their 
education has not advanced. 

The confusion in geographical names referred to 
exists from the same causes to even a greater extent in 
the designation of native tribes and no two reports agree 
either in spelling or classification. 

In 1879 there was a threatened outbreak of In- 
dians, but it soon subsided; since then the natives 
have generally shown a friendly disposition toward 
the whites, though it must be borne in mind that con- 
tact has not been frequent and their good will has 
usually been secured by remunerative employment and 
bestowal of gifts. '""In all dealings with them a thoroughly 
understood bargain should be negotiated through a 
reliable and competent interpreter and contact with them 
in all cases should be characterized by generosity and 



40 ALASKA. 

forbearance, ever remembering that they are untutored 
savages, ignorant of statute law and the white man's 
ways. 

Before the cession of [the Territory to the Uni- 
ted States several estimates of the population had 
been made. The report by the Missionary Priest 
Veniaminoff in 1839 included the inhabitants of all the 
country now called Alaska, and says : 

"The northwestern part of Amtrica from Behring 
Strait to the meridian of Mount Saint Blias, or 141 
west of Greenwich, and all the islands situated along the 
coast of America farther to the eastward, and a por- 
tion of the mainland to a distance of 50 versts from 
the sea-shore down to longitude 130 and latitude 
50 , belongs to Russia and is bounded in the east by the 
British Possessions. Our America is peopled with a 
multitude of tribes and races, the number of which is, of 
course, unknown to us ; but as far as the names of tribes 
in our part of America have been ascertained, they are as 
follows : 

1 . — The Kolosh, inhabiting the islands and the nar- 
row strip of the American continent at the 
extreme southeastern limits of the Russian 
Possessions, whose number is now about 5,000 

2. — The Oughalentze, living near Mount Saint 

Klias, numbering not more than 150 

3. — The Mednovtze, who live on Copper River, to 

the number of 300 

4. — The Kolchane, living far away in the interior of 
the continent near our boundaries; their num- 
ber is unknown 

5. — The Chugach, living on the gulf of the same 

name, numbering now 471 

6. — The Kenaitze, living on the shores of the 

Gulf of Kenai, numbering 1 ,628 



ALASKA. 47 

7. — The inhabitants of the southern shore of the 

Aliaska Peninsula, numbering 1,600 

8. — The Aglegmute, on the northern shore of 

the Aliaska Peninsula, numbering 402 

9. — The Kadiaks or Koniagi, living on the island 

of Kadiak, numbering 1 ,508 

10. — The Oonalashkans or Aleuts, inhabiting the 
Fox Islands and a portion of the Aliaska 
Peninsula, numbering 1 ,497 

1 1.— The Atkhans or Atkha Aleuts, inhabiting the 

Andreieanof Islands, numbering 750 

12. — The Kuskokvims, living on the river Kuskok- 
vim, which empties into Behring Sea, number- 
ing about 7 ,000 

13. — The Kvikhpaks, Kiatentze, Malegmute and 
other tribes inhabiting the shores of Behr- 
ing Sea and the rivers emptying into the 
same, and also the coast of the Northern 
Ocean, whose number cannot be less than 
all those above mentioned together. .• 

To this native population of Russian America we 
must add Russians living in the various settle- 
ments to the number of 706 

Creoles, that is, offspring of Russians from native 
American mothers, who form the foundation 
for a class of American citizens of Russia, 
numbering 1,295 

22,307 
Consequently, our total population in America may 
be given as follows : 

Known and counted 10,313 

Known but not counted 1 2,500 

Estimated only 1 7,000 

Making a total of 39,8 1 3 

A special inspector of the Imperial Russian Govern- 
ment, Kostlivtzov, reported the population of Russian 
America January 1, 1863, to be: 



48 ALASKA. 

Tribes. Males. Females. Total. 

Creoles 925 971 1 ,896 

Aleut 1,236 1,192 2,428 

Kenartze 430 507 937 

Kadiaks 1,115 1,102 2,217 

Chugach 226 230 456 



Totals 3,992 4,002 *7,934 

To this Kostlivtzov added an estimate of Anahs 

and Copper River natives 2,500 

And Kolosh or Thlinkets 20,000 



Making a total of 3°,434 

If the difference in classification be neglected, this is 
sufficiently like the results of Veniaminoff's work in 
1839 to give confidence in the approximate accuracy of 
both. A considerable reduction in the population 
after Veniaminoff's report might be traced to the 
ravages of small-pox, which broke out in 1836, anct 
raged for a year after his work was completed. 

No better information than the foregoing existed 
concerning the Alaskan population when the Territory 
was purchased of Russia, and at that time three years 
were given, by the terms of the treaty, to the in- 
habitants, in which to remove to Russia or become 
subjects of the United States. 

Our Government made no effort at enumeration until 
1880, when Mr. Ivan Petroff reported the population 
as follows: 



*This is 2,191 less than the Russian- American Company's 
total for the same year, but the Russians and Northern natives 
were omitted. 



ALASKA. 49 

Whites 430 

Creoles 1 ,756 

Eskimo. ... 17,617 

Aleut 2, 145 

Athabaskau 3,927 

Thlinket 6,763 

Total 33426 

The census of 1890 is as follows: 

Whites 4,298 

Indians 23,531 

Mongolians 2,288 

Mixed blood r ,935 

Total 32,052 

Or about one inhabitant to 18 square miles of Terri- 
tory. 

There are six principal divisions or nations of the 
aboriginal inhabitants : The Kskimo (Innuit) ; the Thlin- 
ket (Kolosh); the Athabaskan (Tinneh); the Aleut* 
(Oonagan); the Chimmesyan and the Skittagaten (Haida). 
There are many tribes and subdivisions. 

The Eskimo, numerically the strongest (about 13,000), 
are the predominating native element and occupy the 
coast country from Point Barrow to the mouth of the 
Copper River; a few scattered bands have been seen 
east of Point Barrow. 

The Eskimo are a peaceful, inoffensive people, 
strong and hardy by nature, and though of low mental 
development, show considerable adaptability to civili- 
zation. They have had comparatively little contact with 
the whites, who, however, credit them with being, as a 

*Some ethnologists class the Aleuts as Kskimo, thus reduc- 
ing the number of separate nations to five. 



50 ALASKA. 

rule, fair and honest in their dealings. They subsist 
almost entirely upon sea food and preserve their native 
customs and dress. Of the Eskimo there are twenty- 
five separate tribes, as follows : 

The Nuwukmiut (143)*; extending from Dease Inlet 
about 50 miles westward, with their principal village 
at Point Barrow. 

The Utkeaguik (193) ; joining the Nuwukmiut on the 
west and extending to the 158th meridian. 

The Sidaru (47) ; a very small tribe residing along the 
coast from the 158th meridian to the mouth of the 
Koo. 

The Utuka (48) and the Kukpaurungmiut (52); occupy- 
ing the coast for about 100 miles west of the Koo. 

The Tikera (about 300) ; occupy the peninsula between 
capes Beaufort and L,isburne. Their principal vil- 
lage is Initkilly, where the coal mines, operated by 
Americans, give employment to many of this tribe. 

The Nunatogmiut and Kuangmiut (123) (the Kopagmiut 
of Mr. Dall) ; live along Kotzebue Sound and rivers 
emptying into it. 

The Mahlemiut (630); reside along Kotzebue Sound. 

The Kinegan (652) ; scattered along the coast of Behring 
Strait. This tribe is well known to whalers and 
tradesmen. 

The Kaviagmiut (427) ; occupy the peninsula between 
Kotzebue and Norton Sounds. 

The Umudjek (267) ; reside on St. Lawrence Island, 
though in habits, customs and dress are identical 
with the inhabitants of the coast and interior of 
Siberia. 



*The numbers in parentheses refer to population, and are 
taken from the census of 1890. 



The Ukivakmiut (200) 
The Kaviagmint (427) 



ALASKA. 51 

f These are all members of 
the once powerful Mahlemiut 
tribe. They occupy Univak Is- 
I land, the northern and eastern 
j shore of Norton Sound; 
The Unahgmiut (110) t < the Chnagmiu t occupy the 

/TA1 ^, . . ,,. v mouth of the Yukon and 

The Chnagmiut (621) , , banks of that stream as far as 

^, _. r . . , ., , Rasboinik on the south and 

The Mahlemiut (630) j ^ Andreafsky on the north. 

The Kwikhpagmiut or Ikogmiut (172); live on the 
banks of the Yukon from Andreafsky to the mouth 
of the Chageluk. 

The Maglemiut (2,147) » these people inhabit the country 
embraced in the deltas of the Yukon and Kuskok- 
wim rivers and the region between these streams. 

The Nunivagmiut (702); inhabit Nunivak Island. 

The Kuskwogmiut, (3,287); these, the largest of the 
Eskimo families, are thickly scattered along the 
shore of Bristol Bay from Cape Avinof to the mouth 
of the Kvichavak River. 

The Togiagmiut (200); occupy the basin and lake sys- 
tem of the Togiak River. 

The Kiatagmiut (214); occupy the interior region of 
the Kvichavak River. 

The Agletniut (767) ; live on the northern shore of 
the Alaskan Peninsula, from the head of Bristol 
Bay and as far west as Unangashik. This being 
the region occupied by some of the largest can- 
neries and trading posts, many of this tribe find 
employment. 

The Kaniagmiut (1,154); occupy the Kenai Peninsula 
and Kadiak Islands. 

The Chugachigmiut (433) ; inhabit the shores and islands 
of Prince William Sound. 



52 ALASKA. 

The Thlinket (Kolosh) is the second family in 
numerical strength, (about 5,000) though perhaps first 
in commercial importance, as they are already well 
known to American traders, and come more in contact 
with miners and travelers than any of the others. 

They occupy the coast and most of the islands 
from the mouth of Copper River to the southern ex- 
tremity of Alaska. They are a brave and hardy people, 
and are said to be industrious and zealous workers. 
Contact with the whites has materially modified their 
mode of life in many respects, and considerable progress 
has been made in rudimentary education. They have 
slaves, but the freedom of the latter is almost equal 
to that of their owners. There are thirteen tribes of 
the Thlinket nation: 

The Ugaleuts (154); extend from Copper River to Con- 
troller Bay. 

The Yaktag (82) ; are just south of the Ugaleuts. 

The Yakutat (350); occupy the coast as far as Iyituya 
Bay. 

The Chilkats (812); this is one of the most powerful 
of the Thlinket tribes, and occupies the country 
about the Lynn Canal, including Dyea. They have 
for years acted as middlemen between the traders 
and the natives of the interior, and have managed 
to gather considerable property. These are the 
natives who will be met at Dyea and Skagua 
engaged in packing freight over the mountain 
passes. 

The Huna (about 600) ; inhabit Chichaghof Island. 

The Auks (about 300) ; live on Admiralty and Douglas 
Islands, and are also to be found in Juneau. 



ALASKA. 53 

The Taku (225) and Hutznahu (about 500) ; have their 
settlements as far south as Holkhan Bay and the 
southern portion of Admiralty Islands. 

The Sitka- Kwan (814); the largest and most civilized 
tribe of the Thlinket, occupy Baranof Island, and 
individuals are to be found everywhere in South- 
eastern Alaska. 

The Kakey (234) ; are on the island of the same name. 

The Stikeeny or Stikine (300); inhabit Wrangell and 
Etholin Islands, and a few families are on the main- 
land at the mouth of the Stikine River, where 
they engage in taking freight across the moun- 
tain passes. 

The Tongass (255) ; occupy the southern extremity ol 
the Territory. 

The Hanegas (about 300) ; are to be found in the 
northern part of Prince of Wales Island. 

These divisions are not marked and there is but little 
tribal cohesion. The entire Thlinket nation is divided 
into two clans, the Wolf and the Raven, and a member 
of one clan must marry a member of the other. 

The Thlinket is said to occupy a very low moral 
plane, and to have no conception of the truth. They 
are addicted to liquor, and both sexes use tobacco to 
excess. 

The third family in numerical strength (about 2,900), 
the Athabaskans, (called also the Tinneh* and the In- 
galiksf) occupy the interior along the Yukon and its 
tributaries to about the mouth of the Tanana. They in- 
clude several tribes of the North American Indians 

> 

who are scattered from the Rio Grande to the Arctic 
Ocean. It is with difficulty that they manage to live by 

*Dall. 
tPetroff. 



54 ALASKA. 

hunting and fishing in the streams. These Indians 
speak a dialect known to the missionaries as Tukudh 
(Takuth), but with travelers they converse in a jargon of 
Canadian French and English, similar to the Chinook of 
Southeastern Alaska, Oregon and Washington. They 
are sometimes referred to as the Stick or Forest Indians. 
Since the establishment of mining camps in the Yukon 
country their intercourse with the whites has increased, 
but not sufficiently to have any perceptible influence to- 
wards civilization, except in the use of cooking utensils 
and food procured from traders. They are a strong 
healthy people, and inclined to be honest and trust- 
worthy. 

The Athabaskans are the only inhabitants of Alaska 
who under the law are classed as Indians. All the other 
natives are subject to taxation, may sue in the courts 
and be sued.* 

There are five tribes of Athabaskans : 
The Kuchin (580); include a number of roving tribes 
who occupy the upper Yukon and Porcupine 
country. 

The Ingalik (about 900) ; inhabit the banks of the Yu- 
kon from Nulato to Kozerevsky. 

The Kuilchana (about 300); is a roving band liable to 
be seen anywhere in Central Alaska from the head- 
waters of the Kuskokwim River in the south to the 
Chageluk and Innoko in the north. 

The Kenai or Tnaina (about 1,000); are found near the 
shores of Cook's Inlet and on the Sushitna and 
Kinik rivers and the neighboring lakes. 



*See United States Circuit Court, District of Oregon, May I, 
1896. — Federal Reporter ; Volume 27, page 351. 



ALASKA. 55 

The Atna, better known as the "Copper River Indians" 
(142); lead a nomadic life in the region of Copper 
River, going sometimes as far as the headwaters of 
the Yukon. 

The fourth nation in numerical strength (about 
1,000), the Aleut (as before said, sometimes classed as 
Eskimo), inhabit the northern portion of the Alaskan 
Peninsula and all the islands of the Aleutian chain. 
They are rapidly losing their native individuality and 
show in many ways the effect of Russian influence ; they 
speak Russian, belong to the Russian Orthodox Church 
(Greek- Catholic), and have grown in physical appearance 
to resemble that people. 

They are kindly disposed and gentle, though through 
immoral practices have become diseased and physically 
weakened. 

The Chimmesyan or Tsimpseans (about 1,000), the 
fifth of the Alaskan nations, have taken up their resi- 
dence in that Territory since its purchase from Russia. 
They came from British Columbia, under the influence 
of an English missionary named Duncan, in 1887, and 
settled on Annette Island (near the mouth of Portland 
Channel), and in 1891 Congress set aside that island as a 
permanent home for them.* The members of this na- 
tion are far advanced in civilization and are regarded by 
neighboring tribes as a superior people. They have laid 
out the town of Port Chester, with its schools, churches, 
stores, etc. The town is one of the industrial centers of 
Alaska and has a large cannery, steam saw-mill and 
various shops. Almost the entire population speak 
English and have the customs, manners and dress of the 
whites. Among them are to be found skilled musicians 
and eloquent orators. 

*Act of March 3, 1891. 



50 ALASKA. 

The Skittagetan or Haida (about 400), the last and 
smallest of the native nations, are a vigorous, healthy 
people, inhabiting the southern half of Prince of Wales 
Island. They live in a semi-civilized manner as regards 
their houses, furniture and cooking. They are invet- 
erate gamblers, practice polygamy, hold slaves, and are 
altogether without moral principles.* 

Detailed descriptions of these nations, with interest- 
ing accounts of their modes of life, customs, dress and 
occupations, are given by Mr. PetrofT ("Population and 
Resources of Alaska"), Dr. Geo. F. Wilson, United 
States Army, who accompanied Lieutenant Schwatka in 
1883, and by Mr. Dall, in " Alaska and Its Resources." 

Governor John G. Brady, of Alaska, in his last 
annual report, estimates the population at 30,000 na- 
tives and 10,000 whites. The white population is scat- 
tered over the Territory, gathered at the various trading- 
posts and in the mining-camps. It has materially in- 
creased within the last year, and a large influx of pros- 
pectors, miners and traders may be expected to follow 
the verified reports of the rich gold deposits located 
within the Territory. 

There was no Territorial Government established 
until 1884, when Congress made provision for a civil 
government for Alaska, and James H. Kinkead, the first 
Governor of the Territory, was appointed. He was suc- 
ceeded in 1885 by Governor Alfred P. Swineford, who 
held office until 1889, when Lyman B. Knapp was in- 
stalled as Governor. Governor Knapp was followed in 
office by James Sheakly, who remained Chief Executive 
of the Territory until 1897, when the present Governor, 

^Report on Education in Alaska, 1896 



ALASKA. 57 

John G. Brady, was appointed.* No special laws have 
been enacted for the government of Alaska, but the laws 
of Oregon are applicable in the Territory. There is a 
district court which sits alternately at Sitka and Wran- 
gell. There is a land office at Sitka, and Mr. Herman, 
Commissioner of the United States General Land Office, 
has stated that the mineral land laws of the United 
States, the town-site laws (providing for the incorpora- 
tion of town sites and acquirement of title thereto from 
the Government to the trustee) and the law providing 
for trade and manufactures, giving each qualified person 
1 60 acres of land in a square and compact form, are ap- 
plicable to Alaska. The coal land regulations and the 
public land laws do not extend to Alaska, as the Terri- 
tory is expressly excluded by the laws themselves from 
their operation. 

The patenting of mineral lands in Alaska has been 
going on since 1884. 

The mining laws of the United States and of Canada 
are to be found in an Appendix. 

*Note — The other federal officers are: a clerk of the court, 
who is ex- officio Secretary of Alaska ; a surveyor-general ; a 
register of the land office; a receiver of public moneys and a 
United States Commissioner at Sitka. At Sitka also are : a dis- 
trict judge, United States Attorney and Assistant United States 
Attorney and a United States Marshal. There are United States 
Commissioners at Wrangell, Juneau, Unalaska, Kadiak, Circle 
City, St. Michael, Dyea and Unga. 



-5- 



ALASKA. 50 



Chapter VI. 



RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES. 



" The earth yields wealth: from out the earth come forth 
riches." 



The resources of Alaska are but slightly known, and 
its industries are in their infancy. The fur and fish in- 
dustries have been carried on with profit for a considera- 
ble period of time. Efforts at agriculture, with varying 
success, have been made since its colonization by the 
Russians. Deposits of minerals, notably gold, silver, 
copper, lead, iron, coal and oil, are known to exist, and 
dense forests of valuable timber are found in many por- 
tions of the Territory. The obstacles to development 
have not depended so much upon the climate, which is 
less rigorous than generally supposed, as upon the re- 
moteness of the Territory from the markets of the world 
and the lack of transportation facilities. Now that the 
discovery of gold in large quantities has hastened immi- 
gration in its direction, with the result of largely increased 
transportation and a better knowledge of the country, 
the resources of Alaska will offer inviting fields for the 
investment of capital and the employment of labor. 

About the middle of the eighteenth century the Rus- 
sians, attracted by the possibilities of profit in the fur 



60 ALASKA. 

traffic, began the establishment of trading-posts in the 
Territory where the fur-bearing animals were numerous 
and were taken in large numbers by the natives. In 
1786 the discovery, by Captain Pribylof, of the great fur 
seal haunts on the islands which now bear his name, gave 
such great impetus to the fur industry that it occupied 
the attention of the Imperial Government, resulting in 
the provision of regulations, which, for a period, limited 
the annual catch of fur seals to from 30,000 to 40,000, 
with certain protection to females and their young. Af- 
terwards, the number permitted to be taken was in- 
creased to from 50,000 to 70,000. 

After the cession of the Territory to the United 
States, our Government, for a consideration of $60,000 
per year, and a small royalty on each animal taken, 
leased the privilege of the seal islands, and limited the 
annual catch to 100,000. This continued until 1890, 
when a new lease was made, which stipulated that the 
annual catch should not exceed 100,000, and empowered 
the Secretary of the Treasury to make regulations, from 
time to time, governing the number that might be taken. 
In the meantime, pelagic sealing (taking seals in the 
water) had grown to such an extent as to threaten the 
extermination of the animals, and involved so many in- 
terests, that the question became the subject of interna- 
tional controversy, resulting in an agreement between 
the United States and Great Britain that the annual 
catch on land for the years 1891-2-3 be limited to 7,500, 
and pelagic sealing was prohibited in Behring Sea. In 
1894 regulations were adopted by the Paris Tribunal of 
Arbitration prohibiting pelagic sealing from the 1st of 
May to the 1st of July, both inclusive, each year; and 



ALASKA. 61 

under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the 
Treasury, the annual land catch has been limited as fol- 
lows: in 1894 and 1895, to I 5)°°° eacn year; in 1896, 
to 30,000, and in 1897, to 21,000. 

In addition to the fur of the seal may be named as 
commercially valuable those of the sea otter, the land 
otter, the beaver, the silver fox, the blue fox, the mink, 
the wolf, the marten, the squirrel and the muskrat. 
The skins of the black and the brown bear are also 
met with. 

Referring to the agricultural resources of Alaska, 
Mr. Petroff says that " it has been settled by experiment 
that cereal crops cannot be grown, nor can the fruits 
common in the United States be cultivated with success, 
unless it be the strawberry and cranberry," and, continu- 
ing, he says : 

" Taking up the subject of the vegetable garden, it 
is found that there are localities in Alaska where, for the 
last eighty years, or even more, up to the present date, 
good potatoes have been raised, though I should say, 
perhaps, that the raising of these tubers is not a certain 
success year after year, except at one or two points within 
the Alexander Archipelago, namely, at the mouth of the 
Stakhin* River, at Fort Wrangell and on Prince of Wales 
Island. The potato grounds of Alaska, however, can, 
with due care and diligence, be made to furnish in the 
Alexander Archipelago, in Cook Inlet, at Kadiak Island 
and inlets contiguous, and at Bristol Bay, a positive 
source of food supply to the inhabitants. It is not gen- 
erally known that on Afognak Island there are nearly 
100 acres of land, dug up in patches here and there, 

•Stikine. 



02 ALASKA. 

which are planted by the inhabitants, and from which 
they gather an annual harvest of potatoes and turnips; 
but there are no fields spread out, squared up and plowed 
anywhere in Alaska. The little openings in the forest, 
or the cleared sides of a gently sloping declivity, in 
sheltered situations, are taken up by the people, who 
turn out with rude spades, of their own manufacture 
principally, for the purpose of subjugating and overturn- 
ing the sod. Many of the gardens, noticeably those at 
the Kadiak village, are close by the settlement, while 
others are at some distance. 

"The potato crop at Kadiak in 1880 was a total fail- 
ure, and this happens at intervals of from four to six 
years. The winter preceding the planting in 1880 was 
an unusually cold and protracted one, and the season, 
short at the best, was cut off by unwonted early frosts 
during September and the latter part of August. The 
usual growing season, however, opens early in June, 
from the 1st to the 10th, and the potatoes are planted in 
May, coming up and growing freely until October, when 
they are harvested. This growth of potatoes, fairly es- 
tablished and well-defined, presents the only firm and 
tangible evidence of agricultural capacity within the 
limits of Alaska. The turnip grows and flourishes 
wherever the potato succeeds." 

Mr. Petroff comes to the conclusion that, although 
Alaska will not support any considerable agricultural 
population, it is apparent that the condition of those who 
reside in the Territory, engaged in other industries, will 
be much improved by better attention to the develop- 
ment of the latent resources of the soil. 



ALASKA. 63 

The Secretary of Agriculture, under date of January 
1 6, 1898, makes the following statement: 

" Alaska is destined to become a great agricultural 
field, if it is developed properly. The conditions which 
exist there are paralleled by the conditions in Northern 
Scotland, which produces a rugged race which has ever 
been the mainstay of the British Navy. I believe that 
before many years the men who are raised in the rugged 
climate of Alaska, on such food products as can be culti- 
vated in that climate, will be the hardiest, healthiest and 
most fearless and bravest of all the American people, and 
that they will be the bone and sinew of the American 
Navy on the Pacific coast. 

" The soil of Southern Alaska along the coast is rich 
and best suited for barley and oats, the food on which 
the Northern Scotchman thrives. Fish will be an im- 
portant article of the Alaskan's diet, and thus the race 
will become a seafaring one, well suited for the United 
States Navy. If we send to the people now living there 
commissioners who can teach them in a practical man- 
ner how to raise these and other foods profitably, I be- 
lieve the country will develop rapidly. Grass is abund- 
ant, and can be easily cultivated further, and by a special 
process we can teach the Alaskans how to make hay, 
even in the worst kind of Alaskan climate, when it rains 
a little every day. We would introduce whatever veg- 
etables could be successfully cultivated, and make the 
best use of the soil now so rich already. 

"The winters need not be especially hard, for food 
will be abundant in the summer, and can be easily stored 
away for winter consumption. In barley alone a tre- 



64 ALASKA. 

mendous traffic could be built. More than enough bar- 
ley to feed a greater population than is probable in a 
number of years to come can be successfully raised, and 
that is a grain for which there is a constant market. I 
repeat it, Alaska's agricultural possibilities will yield 
her more money than will ever be taken out of the gold 
mines. 

"Congress, in 1887, appropriated $15,000 for the 
purpose of establishing an agricultural experiment sta- 
tion in every State and Territory. This was never ex- 
tended to Alaska, and a special act of Congress has been 
asked by the Department of Agriculture to set aside 
$15,000 for the purpose of increasing the agricultural 
possibilities of that Territory. The department does not 
contemplate establishing an experiment station, but asks 
that Congress give the authority to expend the money in 
introducing various plants and grains best suited to the 
climate, and in sending a corps of specialists to Alaska 
to introduce the plants and educate the people in their 
use. 

" James Wilson, 
' ' Secretary of Agriculture. ' ' 

(The Washington Post, January 16, 1898.) 

Mr. Joseph Ladue, speaking of Dawson City and 
vicinity, which, owing to the similar conditions existing, 
might apply throughout the Yukon country, is quoted 
as saying : 

" Grain is sown May 15th, and barley and oats have 
been grown for the past two years in the vicinity ; pota- 
toes will not mature at Dawson." 



ALASKA. 65 

In summer there is an abundance of grass about 
Dawson City, and barley has been raised in small quanti- 
ties in the vicinity of Forty-Mile Creek. 

As to the conditions governing agriculture in the vi- 
cinity of Sitka, Captain Beardsley, United States Navy, 
says (Reports on Affairs in Alaska, Senate Executive 
Document No. 71, Forty-seventh Congress, First Ses- 
sion, page 125): 

"Whether it be due to the change of climate through 
the clearing away of many acres of forest, or to improved 
methods, I cannot say, but for several years past excel- 
lent vegetables, such as potatoes, cabbages, etc., have 
been raised yearly in the neighborhood of Sitka and 
Wrangell. Near Sitka there are a large number of plots 
under cultivation. I have seen, two seasons in succes- 
sion, lettuce of several varieties; cabbages a yard across 
before they began to head, and eight to ten inches in di- 
ameter headed; cauliflower weighing ten to fifteen pounds; 
Early Rose and Peachblow potatoes ranging from three 
to thirty ounces each, and each hill yielding over half a 
bucketful; turnips of very large size, and cress, rad- 
ishes, etc., in profusion ; green peas of excellent quality, 
and beds bordered by gooseberries and currant bushes, 
producing loads of fruit. My lettuce bed kept me sup- 
plied from June to September." 

Anent the character of the soil in the Yukon coun- 
try, Mr. Dall ("Alaska and Its Resources," page 433) 
says : 

11 It varies from rolling and somewhat rocky hills to 
broad and marshy plains, extending for miles on either 



QQ ALASKA. 

side of the river. The underlying rocks in great part 
are azoic, being conglomerate, syenite and quartzite. 
The south shore of Norton Sound and portions of the 
Kadiac Peninsula are basalt and lava. There is on the 
northeast shore of Norton Sound an abundance of sand- 
stone and clay beds containing lignite. Sandstone is 
also abundant on the Yukon, alternating with the azoic 
rocks. The superincumbent soil differs in different 
places. In some localities it is clayey, and in such situ- 
ations is quite frequently covered with sphagnum, which 
always impoverishes the soil immediately beneath it. In 
others it is light and sandy, and over a large extent of 
country it is the richest alluvial, composed of very fine 
sand, mud and vegetable matter, brought down by the 
river, and forming deposits of indefinite depth. * * * 
The soil is usually frozen to a depth of three or four feet 
in ordinary situations. In colder ones it remains icy to 
within eighteen inches of the surface. This layer of 
frozen soil is six to eight feet thick. Below that depth 
the soil is destitute of ice, except in very unusual situa- 
tions." 

Lieutenant Allen, United States Army (Report on 
Expeditions to Alaska, 1885), says: 

" I believe that lettuce, radishes, turnips, beans, peas, 
potatoes, carrots, and possibly buckwheat and barley, 
can be raised in favored localities on the middle and up- 
per Yukon and Tanana. The climatic conditions of the 
coast do not prevail here ; there is not as much humid- 
ity. * * * The summers, though short, are very 
hot. The sun is almost continually above the horizon, 
and the thermometer has been known to read 112 and 
115 degrees Fahrenheit. Although the soil usually re- 
mains frozen the year round a depth of one or two feet 



ALASKA. 67 

below the surface, this would not necessarily interfere 
with agricultural pursuits. By cultivation and proper 
drainage the distance of the ice-bed below the surface 
v/ould be considerably increased." 

With reference to cattle and other live-stock, Mr. 
Petroff says : 

"There have been repeated attempts to raise stock 
cattle, sheep and hogs in large herds within the borders 
of Alaska; The subject is one in which the Russians 
first naturally took a deep interest, for they were fond of 
good living, and were as desirous as any people could be 
to have the best beef or mutton and the sweetest pork 
on their tables. They brought over hardy selections 
from the Siberian stock, placing the cattle at almost 
every point of importance for trial. The result, after 
years of patient and persistent attention, was that the 
herds on Kadiak Island throve the best and became of 
real service in assisting to maintain the settlement. 
Here and there is a very fine ranging ground for pasture, 
and in the summer there is the greatest abundance of 
nutritious grasses, but when the storms of October, 
freighted with snow, accompanied by cold and piercing 
gales, arrive and hold their own until the following May, 
the sleek, fat herd of September becomes very much 
worn and emaciated. It has given its owner an undue 
amount of trouble to shelter and feed. Hay, however, 
suitable for cattle, or at least to keep cattle alive, can be 
cut in almost any quantities desired for that purpose, 
but the stress of weather alone, even with abundance of 
this feed, depresses, as it were, and enfeebles the vitality 
of the stock so that the herds on Kadiak Island have 
never increased to anything approximating a stock- 
grower's drove, rarely exceeding fifteen or twenty head 



68 ALASKA. 

at the most. Notable examples of small flocks of sheep 
have been brought up since the transfer and turned out at 
Unalaska, Unga and elsewhere and have done well. The 
mutton of the Alaskan sheep, when it is rolling in its 
own fat, as it were, is pronounced by epicures to be very 
fine; but the severe winters, which are not so cold as 
protracted, when the weather is so violent that the ani- 
mals have to huddle for weeks in some dark, low shelter, 
cause a sweating or heating of the wool, which is de- 
tached and falls off, greatly enfeebling and emaciating 
them by spring. The practice of the traders at some 
places now is to bring beef-cattle up in the spring from 
San Francisco, turn them out into the grazing grounds 
on the Aleutian Islands, Kadiak, and even to the north, 
where they speedily round out and flesh up into the very 
finest beeves by the middle or end of October, when 
they are slaughtered." 

Horses are kept at Dyea, and some have found their 
way into the interior;* a few have also been kept for 
years on Wood Island, where a field of twelve acres of 
oats is regularly grown for their use; the grain fre- 
quently heads, but does not ripen, and the crop is har- 
vested in the green for hay. 

The vast territory of Central and Northern Alaska 
is unfitted for cattle-raising and agriculture, though it 
produces an abundance of long, fibrous white moss, the 
natural food of the reindeer, and Dr. Jackson (Reports 
on Introduction of Domestic Reindeer in Alaska, 1896), 
taking the statistics of the Scandinavian Peninsula as a 
guide, estimates that Arctic and sub-Arctic Alaska can 
support 9,000,000 of these animals, capable of furnishing 



*A few horses have been used at Forty-Mile for several 
years. 



ALASKA. 69 

a supply of food, clothing and means of transportation 
to a population of a quarter of a million. Every part of 
the reindeer has economic value ; the flesh is very pal- 
atable, either fresh or cured ; the untanned skin is the 
best material for Arctic clothing, and when tanned is 
much esteemed by the bookbinder, upholsterer and 
glove-maker ; the hair, on account of its buoyancy, is ex- 
tensively used in the manufacture of life-saving appa- 
ratus, and the horns and hoofs make an excellent quality 
of glue. 

Reindeer are also useful as a means of transporta- 
tion, and as such are preferable to dogs. The latter are 
slow and must be burdened with their own food, while a 
trained reindeer will travel in a day's time twice or three 
times the distance covered by a dog-team, and at the end 
of the journey can find in Alaska their natural food in 
abundance when turned out. It is said, however, that 
the moisture continually present in the soil induces a 
hoof disease, which operates as a drawback to their in- 
troduction. There are now over a thousand of these an- 
imals in use in the Territory, and steps have been in- 
augurated to increase the number. 

With regard to the forests of Alaska, Mr. Petroff 
says : 

"The timber of Alaska extends over a much larger 
area than a great many surmise. It clothes the steep 
hills and mountain sides and chokes up the valleys of 
the Alexander Archipelago and the contiguous mainland; 
it stretches, less dense, but still abundant, along that in- 
hospitable reach of territory which extends from the 
head of Cross Sound to the Kenai Peninsula, where, 
reaching down to the westward and southwestward, as 
far as the eastern half of Kadiak Island, and thence 



70 ALASKA. 

across Shelikof Strait, it is found on the mainland and 
on the peninsula bordering on the same latitude; but it 
is confined to the interior opposite Kadiak, not coming 
down to the coast as far eastward as Cape Douglas. 
Here, however, it impinges on the coast, or Cook Inlet, 
reaching down to the shores and extending around to 
the Kenai Peninsula. From the interior of the penin- 
sula above referred to the timber line over the whole of 
the interior of the great area of Alaska will be found to 
follow the coast line at varying distances of from ioo to 
1 50 miles from the seaboard, until that section of Alaska 
north of the Yukon mouth is reached, where a portion of 
the coast of Norton Sound is directly bordered by timber 
as far north as Cape Denbigh. From this point to the 
eastward and northeastward, a line may be drawn above 
the Yukon and its immediate tributaries as the northern 
limit of timber of any considerable extent." 

Of these trees, the greater portion are of the ever- 
green species, the spruce family largely predominating. 
The spruce lumber, however, is not adapted to fine fin- 
ishing on account of the exudation when slightly heated 
of a sticky, resinous gum, which is difficult to remove. 
Throughout the region where the spruce flourishes are 
to be found, especially along the water courses, small 
bunches of white birch, and on the lowlands, far beyond 
the limits of the spruce, the alder and willow thrive. In 
nearly all the timber sections of the Territory is found 
a species of cottonwood, which often grows to large size, 
but west of the 141st meridian no timber grows at an 
altitude greater than 1,000 feet above the sea level. 

Concerning the varieties and value of the timber of 
Alaska, Mr. Petroff says : 

" 1. Yellow Cedar {Cupressus Nutkanensis). — This is 



ALASKA. 71 

one of the most valuable woods on the Pacific coast, 
combining a fine, close texture with great hardness, 
durability and a peculiar, but pleasant odor. The Rus- 
sians named it ' dushnik ' (scented wood) on account of 
the last-named qualities. In the immediate vicinity of 
Sitka, on Baranof and adjoining islands, this tree was 
nearly exterminated by the Russians, but on the Kehk 
Archipelago (Koo Island), and on Prince of Wales Island 
and a few others of the Alexander Archipelago, near the 
British Columbian frontier, considerable bodies of it can 
still be found, and beyond the line, in the Nasse and 
Skeena River valleys, it is also abundant. 

" 2. Sitka Spruce (Adzes Sitke?isis). — This is the uni- 
versal forest tree of Alaska and is found of gigantic 
size on the islands of the Alexander Archipelago and on 
the shores of Prince William Sound. Its medium growth 
it appears to attain in the valleys of the Yukon and the 
Kuskokwim, while on the east side of Cook Inlet and 
on the more northern uplands it is quite stunted and 
dwarfed. The Sitka spruce is most closely connected 
with the various requirements of all Alaskan natives in 
their domestic economy, as its timber is used in the con- 
struction of nearly every dwelling throughout the coun- 
try, and even those tribes which inhabit barren coasts, 
far removed from the limits of coniferous trees, are sup- 
plied with it through means of freshets and ocean cur- 
rents. The sappy outer portion of the wood furnishes 
splinters and torches that light up during the long 
months of winter the dark dwellings of interior tribes of 
Tinneh stock, who know not the oil lamp of their Innuit 
neighbors. The same material is also used for sledge 
runners on loose but crisp-frozen snow, over which iron 
or steel would drag with difficulty, as over deep, coarse 



;o ALASKA. 

sand. The Thlinket and the Hyda fashion their buoy- 
ant and graceful canoes, both large and small, from 
spruce logs, and split from them also the huge planks 
used in the construction of their houses. The lumber 
manufactured from the Sitka spruce is much less dura- 
ble than the 3 7 ellow cedar, very knotty, and consequently 
not adapted for ship-building. 

"3. Hemlock (Adzes Martensiana). — Though this 
tree generally exceeds the spruce in size, it is of rare oc- 
currence, much less valuable as timber, but well adapted 
for fuel 

" 4. Balsam Fir (Abies Canadensis). — This tree is 
found only in small, scattered bodies, and is of little 
value as timber, but the natives use its bark for tanning 
and for other purposes. 

"5. Scrub Pine (Pinus Contorto). — The scrub pine is 
found throughout the interior of Alaska in small, scat- 
tered bodies up to the highest altitude, but it is of no 
value as timber. 

" Thus, it will be seen that the forests of Alaska are 
altogether coniferous, as the small bodies of birch and 
the alder and willow thickets on the lower Yukon and 
Kuskokwim rivers can scarcely be considered to come 
under this head. Aside from the yellow cedar, which is 
rare, the timber-wealth of Alaska consists of the Sitka 
spruce, which is not only abundant and large (trees of 
from three to four feet in diameter being quite common 
in Southeastern Alaska and Prince William Sound), but 
also generally accessible. 

" To give even an approximate estimate of the area 
of timbered lands in Alaska is at present impossible, in 
view of our incomplete knowledge of the extent of 
mountain ranges, which, though falling within the tim- 




hit* 




ALASKA. 73 

ber limits, must be deducted from the superficial area of 
forest covering. 

■ - A few small saw-mills of exceedingly limited capac- 
ity have been erected at various points in Southeastern 
Alaska to supply the local demand of trading-posts and 
mining-camps; but finished building lumber is still 
largely imported, even into this heavily timbered region. 
In all Western Alaska but one small saw-mill is known 
to exist, which is on Wood Island, St. Paul Harbor, Ka- 
diak. The mill was first set up to supply sawdust for 
packing ice, but since the collapse of that industry, its 
operations have been spasmodic and not worth mention- 
ing. Lumber from Puget Sound and British Columbia 
mills is shipped to nearly all ports in Western Alaska for 
the use of whites and half-breeds, while the natives in 
their more remote settlements obtain planks and boards 
by the very laborious process of splitting logs with iron 
or ivory wedges. On the treeless isles of the Shumagin 
and Aleutian groups, as well as in the southern settle- 
ments of the Alaskan Peninsula, even fire-wood is im- 
ported from more favored sections of the Territory, and 
commands high prices. 

" The drift-wood washed upon the shores of Behring 
Sea and the Arctic is of very little value as building ma- 
terial, and cannot be worked into lumber." 

In his report for the fiscal year 1 89 1 , Governor Knapp, 
of Alaska, speaking of the fish industry of the Terri- 
tory, says : 

" Among the resources of Alaska are the products of 
the sea. The native population have always obtained 
much of their food supply from the waters, and, in a less 
degree, their clothing and many of the conveniences of 
life. Their winter supply of food is still largely made 



74 ALASKA. 

up of dried fish, sea-weed and fish-eggs, while fresh fish 
are eaten at all seasons of the year, not only by the na- 
tives, but by all classes of people, and the abundance of 
this product insures the most thriftless with a ready 
means of subsistence. 

" Salmon fishing is by far the largest and most im- 
portant industry. Thirty-seven canneries and seven or 
more salting establishments are reported as in operation 
in 1890. The aggregate pack of the canneries was 
688,332 cases of four dozen one-pound cans, falling a lit- 
tle short of the pack of 1889. The amount of salted 
salmon was about 7,300 barrels, a little more than the 
year previous. These salmon-fisheries represent a capi- 
tal of about $4,250,000, and they give employment to 
about 2,000 white laborers, 2,500 Chinamen and 1,000 
natives, and require in their business, for transportation 
and their work, about 100 steam vessels and 500 fishing 
boats. The white and Chinese laborers do not usually 
remain in the Territory after the season is over. Below 
is given a comparative statement of the canned product 
since 1883 : 

YEAR. TOTAL PACK, YEAR. TOTAL PACK, 

CASES. CASES. 

1883 36,000 1888 439.293 

1884 45,000 1889 702,993 

1885 74,800. 1890 688,332 

1886 120,700 

1887 190,000 Total 2,297,118 

In 1896 the product of the different canneries was 
valued at $2,383,757, and the salmon pack for the year 
amounted to 949,645 cases of four dozen one-pound cans 
to the case, and 10,000 barrels,* requiring the employ - 



*Report of Governor Brady for 1897. 



ALASKA. 75 

ment of over 5,000 people, who earned wages amount- 
ing to $130,000. 

Of the salmon in Alaskan waters, in sufficient quan- 
tities to constitute a commercial and economic resource, 
there are several species, including the red, the king, the 
silver, the hump-back, the dog, the steel-head and the 
" Dolly Varden " varieties. The salmon live in salt 
water, but ascend the streams in the spring of the year 
to spawn in fresh water. Under an Act of Congress ap- 
proved June 9, 1896, the erection of an}' dam, barricade, 
or other obstruction in the streams to impede their prog- 
ress is prohibited under penalty of a fine of $250 for 
every day such obstructions are maintained. Govern- 
ment officers, under the control of the Treasury De- 
partment, are present to enforce the provisions of the 
law. 

There are two fish-hatcheries, one at Karluk, where 
5,500,000 eggs were secured, and the other on Etholin 
Island, which produced over 2,000,000 eggs. 

Next in importance to the salmon-fishing industry is 
the codfish business, which has been carried on about 
the Aleutian Islands and in Behring Sea since 1865. 
The catch in 1890 amounted to a total of 1,138,000 fish, 
valued at $569,000. Since the beginning of the busi- 
ness in 1865, there have been taken 25,723,000 fish, 
valued at $12,861,650. The cod banks in Alaskan waters, 
though known to be of wide extent, have not been suf- 
ficiently surveyed to exactly define their limits. Shum- 
agin Bank, just south of the island of the same name, 
covers about 4,400 square miles ; Slime Bank, north of 
Unimak Island, has an area of 1,445 square miles; Alba- 
tross Bank, southeast of Kadiak, extends over 2,900 
square miles ; Baird Bank, north of the Alaskan Penin- 



7r> ALASKA. 

sula, covers an area of 9,200 square miles, while the 
great Portland Bank, northeast of Kadiak, though not 
surveyed, is of great area. Over all the cod banks there 
are from fifteen to fifty fathoms of water, with fine, gray 
sand bottom. 

At Kilisnoo there is " The Alaska Oil and Guano 
Company," giving employment to about 100 men, half 
of whom are white, the remainder Indians and China- 
men. They have vessels and appliances for taking fish. 
In 1 89 1 the product of this factory was 300,000 barrels 
of oil, 800 tons of guano, and 700 barrels of salt salmon. 
The oil is worth about 30 cents per gallon and the guano 
$30 per ton. In 1896 the product of this factory was 
25750 barrels, 90,650 gallons of oil, 550 tons of guano, 
700 half-barrels of salt herring ; total value, $38,000. 
The chief source of the product is the herring, w T hich is 
rich in oil, and very abundant in the still waters at differ- 
ent places from August to February. Its flesh is highly 
esteemed as food, and is also used as bait for taking hali- 
but and other large fish. 

Halibut are plentiful throughout the entire year in 
Southern, Central and Western Alaskan waters. They 
range in weight from 15 to 250 pounds, those weighing 
50 to 75 pounds being preferred. 

In the Yukon are found the grayling, white fish and 
burbot (known in Alaska as the " losh " ) in great num- 
bers. In Southeastern Alaska black bass are abundant, 
and pikg and trout are found in nearly all the streams. 
In 1893 the investment in the Alaskan fishing industry, 
including cash capital, vessels, buildings, etc., amounted 
to $2,609,650. 

The whaling business has been carried on in the 



ALASKA. 77 

waters adjacent to Alaska for many years. Governor 
Knapp, in his report for 1892, says : 

" The whaling business, in which 48 vessels are en- 
gaged, resulted in a catch for 1891 of 12,228 barrels of 
oil, 186,250 pounds of bone, and 1,000 pounds of ivory. 
The total value was $1,218,293." 

In the eighteen years from 1874 to 1891, inclusive, 
the whale catch was 318,917 barrels of oil, 4,931,95° 
pounds of bone, and 272410 pounds of ivory. 

With regard to the mineral resources of Alaska, we 
have but little information, and, owing to the difficulties 
attending the careful survey of the country, much time 
must elapse before accurate knowledge can be obtained, 
or any great development expected. 

Gold, silver, copper, lead and iron have been found ; 
extensive coal and iron fields are known to exist, and oil 
is reported. In the Copper River country the Indians 
display articles of pure copper, and the metal is said to 
be very abundant. 

According to Professor J. Edward Spurr, of the 
United States Geological Survey, pure native silver is 
frequently found, and the metal is widely diffused in 
combination with gold. In 1896 the silver yield of the 
Territory was valued at $45,798. The Yukon country 
also produced considerable platinum, The gold produc- 
tion will be referred to in a separate chapter. 



ALASKA. 79 



Chapter VII. 



GOLD -DISCOVERY, DISSEMINATION AND 
PRODUCT. 

" Heaven's pavement here is stored — unsunned heaps of hid- 
den treasure." 



Gold* has been found in greater or less quantities over 
a wide expanse of country in Alaska and adjacent terri- 
tory. The exact date of its discovery is uncertain. A 
Russian engineer named Doroshin discovered the metal 
in small quantities on the Kenai Peninsula in 1848 and 
continued his explorations in 1 850-1, without, however, 
finding anything of sufficient importance to attract 
attention. 

In i860, it is said, an employee of the Hudson Bay 
Company stumbled on to some gold, but the facts were 
not made public ; possibly the fur company feared an 
immigration which would develop the country and de- 
stroy their monopoly. Certain it is that no knowledge 
of rich deposits existed at the time the United States ac- 
quired the Territory, and Mr. William C. Greenfield, in 
United States Census Reports for 1890, referring to the 
Yukon River district, says : 

*Gold is valued as follows : 

1 ounce troy, pure gold, is worth $ 20.67 

1 dwt. troy, pure gold, is worth 1.03 

1 grain troy, pure gold, is worth .04 £ 

1 ounce avoirdupois, pure gold, is worth 18.84 

1 pound avoirdupois, pure gold, is worth 301.37 

1 ton, 2,000 pounds, pure gold, is worth 602,737.20 



SO ALASKA. 

" Mining cannot be called a success in the Yukon up 
to the present time. Since the first excitement in 1886, 
there have been but few instances of individuals taking 
more than $2,000 for two or three seasons' work." 

Perhaps the first white prospector to penetrate the in- 
terior was George Holt, who crossed the mountains for 
the express purpose of gold-hunting in 1878; but little 
is known of the route he traveled, except that he de- 
scended the chain of lakes back of Dyea and entered the 
Hootalinqua River country by way of the Indian trails. 
He found gold, but not in sufficient quantity to encour- 
age him in further effort. 

Lieutenant Allen, United States Army, in 1885 found 
"color" at the mouth of Copper River, and for many 
years Indians have brought out of the Copper River dis- 
trict furs, copper and gold, but the region has not been 
explored by white men. 

Gold was discovered near Sitka in 1879, and in 1880 
Joseph Juneau discovered gold near the town which now 
bears his name. The same year Kdward Bean organized 
an expedition, which set out from Sitka, crossed over 
the Cbilkoot Pass to Lake Lindeman, where boats were 
constructed in which the party descended the Lewis 
River as far as the Hootalinqua. They discovered gold, 
but only in such small quantities that men could not 
make, on an average, more than $2.15 per day. About 
this time numerous small parties began to make their 
way over the somewhat familiar Chilkoot trail and to 
push further and further into the interior, down the 
large rivers and up their tributaries. All of them found 
gold, but a party of miners in 1881 were the first to find 
it in really paying quantities in the Yukon Valley. They 
went to the mouth of the Salmon River and ascended 



ALASKA. 81 

that stream for 200 miles and found gold on every bar. 
The Lewis River, Stewart River and Cassiar Bar, until 
recently the richest deposits in the Yukon country, were 
located in 1885. Miller Creek was located in 1892. All 
these Yukon Valley points are in British territory, but 
in 1886 the prospectors carried their operations across 
the boundary line and found gold in Alaska on Forty- 
Mile Creek and its tributaries, Glacier Creek, Poker 
Creek, Davis Creek, etc., in such quantities as to cause 
the desertion of the Canadian fields further up the val- 
leys; Birch Creek was prospected with good results in 
1893, and about 100 claims were staked out along its 
course; in 1895 Eagle Creek, its tributary, was discov- 
ered. A prolonged drouth in the summer of 1896 caused 
a suspension of work in the Forty-Mile district for want 
of water. All these American diggings continued to be 
worked with profit until the sensational discoveries by 
George W. Carmach in August, 1896, on the Klondike* 
River and its tributaries, made that hitherto unheard-of 
region the center of the world's mining interest and at- 
tracted the attention of all civilized countries. Forty- 
mile Creek takes its name from the fact that it enters the 
Yukon about that distance below Fort Reliance, an 
abandoned trading-post. It will always be interesting as 
the point where the first genuine placer gold-mining ex- 
citement in Alaska started. The stream, almost if not 
wholly in Alaska, is about 250 miles long, with many 
tributaries, all bearing gold, it is said, in paying quanti- 
ties. Sixty- Mile Creek, which is nearly all in British 
territory, enters the Yukon about 50 miles above the 
mouth of the Klondike, and has given good yields. 

^Klondike is a corruption of the Indian word "Troan-dik," 
or " Thronduik," meaning plenty of fish. 



82 ALASKA. 

At nearly every point in the Territory where search 
has been made gold, in greater or less quantities, has 
been found. From all of the streams so far prospected 
come reports of gold deposits ; fine dust far down the 
streams, growing coarser as the head-waters are ap- 
proached, leading to the belief that rich placer deposits, 
if not the " mother lode," are to be found somewhere up 
the gulches, which the empiricism and endurance of the 
American miner will combine to locate.* The data at 
hand seems to show a placer gold-belt covering an area 
of over 700 square miles, extending in Alaska for 300 
miles westward from the border across the Yukon Val- 
ley and including all the tributaries of that stream. Most 
of this area remains to be prospected ; for its development 
and extension, if any, we must look to the explorations 
sure to follow the present interest and excitement. Gold- 
bearing quartz in ledges has also been found in different 
places, and there have been extensive stamp-mills profita- 
bly operated on Douglass Island for many years, where the 
ore, though of low grade, appears inexhaustible. The 
Cook's Inlet district produced $120,000 in 1896. Mining 
districts are organized on Kadiak Island and Portage Bay. 

The estimated product of the Yukon placers in 1890 
was $50,000, and the amount was doubled the following 
year. The product of Alaskan creeks in 1893 was 
$198,000; in 1894 ^ na d increased to ,409,000; in 1895 
the amount was given as $778,609, of which $709,000 
was from the Yukon district. The production of the 
Yukon district for 1896, including United States and 
British territory, is estimated at $1,400,000. In 1897 
civilization received news of the great wealth in the 
Klondike region, and estimates of the gold brought out 

*Since the above writing comes an unverified report of the 
discovery of the "mother lode." 



ALASKA. 83 

varied from $6,000,000, by Mr. R. E. Preston, Director 
of the Mint at Washington, to $10,000,000, by H. C. 
Mcintosh, Governor of the Northwest Territory (Brit- 
ish). Dr. Sheldon Jackson, long a resident of Alaska, 
and an authority upon matters concerning it, says the 
newspaper reports of its vast wealth have not been over- 
estimated, but warns people against rushing into the 
country without thorough preparation to withstand the 
hardships and privations. 

Of the Yukon district, Professor J. Edward Spurr, of 
the United States Geological Survey, says : 

" The Yukon districts lie in a broad belt of gold-pro- 
ducing rocks, having a considerable width, and extend- 
ing in a general east and-west direction for several hun- 
dred miles. Throughout this belt occur quartz veins 
which carry gold, but, so far as yet found out, the ore is 
of low grade, and a large proportion of the veins have 
been so broken by movements in the rocks that they 
cannot be followed. For this reason the mines in the 
bed rock cannot be worked, except on a large scale with 
improved machine^, and even such operations are im- 
possible until the general conditions of the country in 
reference to transportation and supplies are improved. 

" Through the gold bearing rocks the streams have 
cut deep gullies and canyons, and in their beds the gold 
which was contained in the rocks which have been 
worn away is concentrated, so that from a large amount 
of very low-grade rock there may be formed in places a 
gravel sufficiently rich in gold to repay washing. All 
the mining which is done in this country therefore con- 
sists in the washing-out of these gravels. 

" In each gulch prospectors are at liberty to stake out 
claims not already taken, the size of the claim being de- 
termined by vote of all the miners in each gulch, accord- 



84 ALASKA. 

ing to the richness of the gravel. The usual length of a 
claim is about 500 feet along the stream, and the total 
width of the gulch bed, which is ordinarily narrow. 
When a prospector has thus staked out his claim, it is re- 
corded by one of the miners, who is elected by his fel- 
lows in each gulch for that purpose, and this secures him 
sufficient title. The miners' laws are practically the en- 
tire government in these districts, for the remoteness 
prevents any systematic communication being carried on 
with the United States. All questions and disputes are 
settled by miners' meetings, and the question in dispute 
is put to popular vote. 

" In prospecting the elementary method of panning 
is used to discover the presence of gold in gravel, but 
after a claim is staked and systematic work begun, long 
sluice-boxes are built of boards, the miners being obliged 
to fell the trees themselves and saw out the lumber with 
whip-saws, a very laborious kind of work. The depth 
of gravel in the bottom of the gulches varies from 1 foot 
up to 20 or 30 feet, and when it is deeper than the latter 
figure it can not be worked. 

" The upper part of the gravel is barren, and the pay- 
dirt lies directly upon the rock beneath, and is generally 
very thin. To get at this pay-dirt all the upper gravel 
must be shoveled off, and this preliminary work often 
requires an entire season, even in a very small claim. 
When the gravel is deeper than a certain amount, say 10 
feet, the task of removing it becomes formidable. In 
this case, the pay-dirt can sometimes be got at in the 
winter season, when the gravel is frozen hard, by sink- 
ing shafts through the gravel and drifting along the pay- 
dirt." 

" Prospecting in this country," says Mr. Wilson 
(Guide to Yukon Gold-Fields), " is very difficult, owing to 



ALASKA. 85 

the character of the surface, the general formation being 
soft, the hills having been worn smooth by glacial ac- 
tion, which left a layer of dirt over the whole country to 
a depth of from 5 to 15 feet. This is frozen the whole 
year, with the exception of a few inches on the surface. 
The method of prospecting is usually carried on by sink- 
ing a number of holes to bed-rock across the bed of the 
creek, or cross-cutting it by a tunnel and testing the dirt 
every few feet by panning, thus locating the pay-streak. 
After a creek has been prospected, the glacial drift must 
be removed. The trees and roots are taken away and a 
stream of water turned on, which, with the help of the 
sun, in time bares the pay-streak. The course of the 
water is then turned along the hillside, a dam built and 
sluice-boxes erected. These are made with corrugated 
bottoms, which catch and retain the gold. . They are 
given a grade regulated by the coarseness of the gold ; 
if the gold is fine, the grade is slight ; if coarse, a greater 
pitch can be given, which is preferable, as more dirt can 
be handled. The lack of water in these gulches proves 
a great hindrance in many cases. The seasons are dry, 
and only the glacial drip of the hills can be depended 
upon. 

" A method lately adopted, by which mining can be 
done in winter, has proved profitable, besides doing away 
with the long period of idleness. This is called burning, 
and is done by drifting, melting away the frost by fire 
and taking out only the pay-dirt, leaving the glacial drift 
and surface intact. The pay-dirt thus removed is easily 
washed in the spring, when water is plent) r ." 

When the thawing process reaches the pay-streak, 
a noxious gas similar to fire-damp is generated, which 
must be removed or greatly diluted with fresh air before 
entering the shaft. 



ALASKA. 87 



Chapter VIII. 



ROUTES TO THE GOLD-FIELDS. 



" No dawn, no dusk, no proper time of day, 
No road, no street, no t'other side the way.' 



■Hood. 



Alaksa is a difficult country to traverse, even in the 
short summer season, there being no roads; and even In- 
dian trails, owing to the small population of natives, are 
very rare. The surface is rough and mountainous in 
many places, and on the more even portions travel is 
impeded by the growth of thorny cactus and knee-deep 
wet moss almost everywhere encountered. 

Men who contemplate entering the gold fields should 
be sober, strong and healthy ; they should be practical 
men, able to adapt themselves quickly to their surround- 
ings. Special care should be taken to know that they 
have sound lungs, that they are free from rheumatism 
and rheumatic tendency, and that their joints, especially 
the knee joints, are strong and have never been 
weakened^ by injury, synovitis or other disease. In 
temperament they should be of a cheerful, hopeful dis- 
position, willing to work. Men of sullen, morose na- 
tures, although they may be industrious, are very apt, as 
soon as the novelty of the country wears off, to become 
dissatisfied, when small reverses induce pessimism and 
melancholy. 

It will be wise for travelers to form parties of about 
four people, as such an arrangement will be found less 



88 ALASKA. 

expensive and offers other advantages. The best time to 
start is about the middle of April, and navigation on the 
river closes about the middle of October. 

There are at least four routes to the gold-fields wholly 
or in part across United States territory. Besides, 
several trails used by the Indians are available. 

The first by ocean steamer from Seattle or San Fran- 
cisco to St. Michael Island, thence by river steamer up 
the Yukon. The Yukon is navigable from its mouth to 
White Horse Rapids, a distance of over 1,600 miles. 

The second is by ocean steamer to Juneau, and 
farther on by smaller boat to Dyea ; thence by land over 
the divide, then following the chain of lakes and rivers 
from the head of the Yukon basin to Dawson City. 

The third is by the Taku Inlet. 

The fourth is by the Stikine River. 

Ocean steamers of different lines land passengers and 
freight at Fort Wrangell, Juneau, near the mouth of the 
Copper River, St. Michael and other points. The safe 
passages for vessels between the islands of the Aleutian 
chain are the Amukta (longitude 172 ) and the Unimak 
(longitude 165 ). 

The first of these routes is the least difficult, but 
is much the longest and more expensive than the 
others. 

Leaving Seattle or San Francisco on a well ap- 
pointed ocean steamer, the run is made to St. Michael 
Island, the end of the ocean voyage, in about fifteen 
days. Vessels can not go to St. Michael much before 
the end of June, on account of large bodies of drifting 
ice that beset the waters of the approach. After a delay 
of from one to fifteen days, a transfer is made to a flat- 
bottomed river boat, capable of carrying about 150 







fill 




t 



« 




ALASKA. 80 

passengers and 150 pounds of baggage each (no more 
baggage is permitted), and another voyage of from two 
to three weeks up the river is begun. The distances 
between principal points on this route, as given by trans- 
portation companies and travelers, are as follows : 

San Francisco to Seattle 697 miles 

Seattle to St. Michael 2,174 miles 

St. Michael to mouth of Yukon 80 miles 

Mouth of Yukon to Andreafski , 70 miles 

Andreafski to Anvik 1 50 miles 

Anvik to Nulato 300 miles 

Nulato to Novikakat 145 miles 

Novikakat to Tanana 80 miles 

Tanana to Fort Yukon 450 miles 

Fort Yukon to Circle City 80 miles 

Circle City to Forty-Mile 240 miles 

Forty-Mile to Dawson City 52 miles 

Total 4,518 miles 

The first boat of the season leaves San Francisco 
about May 1 stand the last about August 30th, but, owing 
to low water in the Yukon early in the season, late boats 
are not likely to get beyond Fort Yukon. The trip re- 
quires from thirty-five to forty days and costs about 
$200 00. In 1897 only three vessels plied on the Yukon 
River, but it is understood that twenty suitable boats 
are now being constructed to meet the increased trade. 

The second, usually referred to as the Juneau Route, 
is more direct, though much broken by the different 
methods of transportation . Its possible cheapness recom- 
mends it to those of small means. From Seattle by 
steamer, which makes five or six trips a month, a four- 
days journey brings the passenger to Juneau ; this, the 
principal port in Alaska, is a town of about 5,000 in- 
habitants, with two hotels, good shops, a theatre and 
7 — 



00 ALASKA. 

electric lights. It is said to be a good outfitting-point. 
From Juneau there is still about 100 miles of salt water 
journey to Dyea, at the head of I^ynn Canal, one of the 
long, narrow inlets so common on the Alaska coast. 
This part of the trip takes twelve hours. There is at 
Dyea, besides a trading-post, which offers the last 
chance short of Fort Selkirk to supply forgotten arti- 
cles, a village of from 200 to 300 Chilkoot Indians, who 
make a business of packing miners' outfits over the 
mountains, a distance of from twenty-seven to thirty-two 
miles, according to choice of routes. Some white con- 
tractors are there also, who maintain a pack-train of 
horses over the first twelve miles of the distance. Sleds 
and dogs to pull them can also be purchased; single 
dogs are valued at from $25 to $125 ; from six to twelve 
dogs are hitched to a sled and can travel about fifteen 
miles per day with a load of 100 pounds for each animal. 
The only dogs suitable for this work are those found in 
the Territory. Animals imported from milder climates 
soon succumb to the rigors of the Alaska winter. Some 
men draw their own loaded sleds and are able to trans- 
port in this manner by doubling up, it is said, from 500 
to 1,000 pounds at a trip. Upon leaving Juneau the 
traveler has the choice of three routes, viz. : Chilkoot 
Pass, which has been quite generally used. It is 3,500 
feet high, with a sharp pitch of about 600 feet near the 
crest, in which, at times, every step must be cut in the 
ice, though sheep, cattle and horses have occasionally 
been taken over the summit* Wood has to be carried 
for any fire required for the one night almost certain to 
be spent on the trail. The crest of this pass is about 

*Since this writing the War Department has been informed 
that by February 1, 1898, a man named Hugh Wallace would have 
a trolley line in operation over the Chilkoot Pass. 



ALASKA. 91 

fifteen miles from Dyea, and a portion of the road has 
been corduroyed. In summer it is best to leave Dyea 
about 6 o'clock in the evening, as that will bring the 
traveler to the snow near the crest at a time in the morn- 
ing when there will probably be a crust thick enough to 
bear a man's weight. The descent toward the interior is 
much easier than the ascent, as the grade is not so steep. 
White Pass, or Moore's Pass, as it is sometimes called, is 
1,000 feet lower than Chilkoot Pass, is passable at all sea- 
sons of the year, and wood is everywhere plentiful. From 
Skagua, the starting-point, there is a toll-road over White 
Pass which has been very recently constructed at a cost 
of $ 100,000 ; the road is said to be practicable for wagons, 
but the rates of toll have not yet been established. Chil- 
kat Pass, 3,000 feet above the sea and about 45 miles 
from the coast, sometimes referred to as the Dalton trail, 
is also available, but there is little information concern- 
ing it beyond the fact that it is a land route to Fort Sel- 
kirk and is supposed to be about 150 miles shorter than 
the distance by the lakes and rivers. 

The cost of freighting across the mountains has been 
from five to fifty cents per pound, but if the rush continues, 
as is quite likely, and with reason to expect an increase, 
the prices will undoubtedly rise to such a figure that more 
men than heretofore will be compelled, owing to lack of 
funds, to do their own packing. One hundred pounds is 
about the most that the average man can pack, though it 
is said that some Indians make good time with twice that 
weight. Two hundred pounds is the usual load for the 
ordinary pack animal. As nothing less than 1 ,000 pounds 
will include an outfit for one man, it will require from 
three weeks to one month for him to pack it across the 
mountain himself. 

Once over either the Chilkoot or White Pass, the de- 



92 ALASKA. 

scent of the lakes and rivers to the gold-fields begins. 
For this part of the trip a boat is necessary and must be 
either purchased or constructed. But few, so far, have 
been for sale, though it is said parties are at work pre- 
paring a supply ; single boats cost from $275.00 to $300.00. 
However, the tools requisite for boat-building are so 
much a necessity in a new country that no one should 
think of starting in without them. Four men can, with 
proper tools, if hand)' in their use, take the standing 
spruce, whip-saw out the lumber and make a boat large 
enough to carry themselves and their 4,000 pounds of 
baggage, in a couple of weeks. There are at time of 
writing* two pits for whip-sawing at Lake [Lindeman, 
but suitable timber is scarce, and can not be secured 
much under three or four miles. At Lake Bennett there 
is a saw-mill, operated by Americans, and lumber is 
plentiful. The boat usually constructed is about twenty- 
two feet long and four and a half to five feet wide. It 
must be strong and stiff to endure the storms on the 
lakes and the tossing about it will receive in the rapids. 
A sail should be provided to steady the boat and take ad- 
vantage of any wind, and the same canvass will be found 
in many ways useful in camp. There will be times when, 
owing to shallow water, ice or rapids, the boat will have 
to be lightened, or hauled out of the water entirely, and 
carried along with the baggage to the next navigable 
water. This is called portage and is a slow and laborious 
process, well calculated to test the patience and endur- 
ance of the travelers. After passing through Lake 
Lindeman there is a portage of about a mile, around a 
short, rapid and dangerous bit of water, to Lake Bennett ; 
then, following Lake Bennett to Lake Tagish, at the foot 
of which is a small permanent Indian village, and Marsh 

^November, 1897. 



ALASKA. 93 

Lake or Mud Lake, the voyager finds himself at the head 
of Miles Canon, where begins three miles of indescrib- 
ably rough water, terminating in White Horse Rapids, 
where the waters rush through the narrow gorge at a 
terrific rate, variously estimated at from fifteen to thirty 
miles an hour. To pass these rapids it is customary to 
unload and carry most of the freight to some point be- 
low and then let down the boats by ropes, keeping close 
to shore. No novice in water craft should attempt to 
pilot his boat through these waters, though for ex- 
perienced boatmen they are said not to be especially 
dangerous.* It is to be expected that the demand for 
their services will bring to this point men who will make 
a business of taking boats through, and the travelers will 
have to decide for themselves whether they will portage 
around the rapids, pay the pilot charges, or take the 
chances of losing their outfits and perhaps their lives. 
Further down the river will be encountered Five Finger 
Rapids, and three miles further Rink Rapids, neither of 
which are considered very dangerous. Just below White 
Horse Rapids opens to view Lake Le Barge, 35 miles 
long. About the foot of this lake, on the left-hand side, 
and for 200 miles down the Lewis River, is one of the 
best game regions known in the Northwest, where 
moose and mountain sheep a year ago, and in all pre- 
vious years, abounded. In the river's course will be 
found many timbered islands, and if the time can be 
spared, a week or two might be well spent in hunting, to 
supply meat and cutting building logs for rafting down 
the river, when, if not wanted for the owner's use, they 
will readily sell at a good price at Dawson City or other 
points. 

*Alfred J. Daly, Assistant United States Attorney for the 
District of Alaska. 



94 



ALASKA. 



The distances from Seattle, by way of Chilkoot Pass 
(and very little difference for either of the other passes 
back of Dyea) are, according to figures considered reli- 
able, about as follows : 

Seattle to Juneau 899 miles 

Juneau to Haines 80 miles 

Haines to Dyea 26 miles 

Dyea to Sheep Camp 11^ miles 

Sheep Camp to crest Chilkoot miles 

Pass 3^ miles 

Crest to Codler Lake 4 miles 

Portage to Long Lake 3^ miles 

Long Lake 2 x / 2 miles 

Portage to Deep Lake % miles 

Deep Lake 1 j4 miles 

Portage to Lake Lindeman 2 % miles 

Total, Dyea to Lake Linde- 
man 2t l % miles 

Portage to Lake Bennett 1 mile 

Through Lake Bennett 30 miles 

Lake Bennett to mouth of McClin- 

tock River 45 miles 

Mouth of McClintock River to White 

Horse Rapids 28 miles 

White Horse Rapids to Lake Le 

Barge 28 miles 

Through Lake Le Barge 31 miles 

LakeLe Barge to mouth of Hootalin- 

qua River 33 miles 

Hootalinqua River to Little Salmon 

River 70 miles 

Little Salmon River to Five-Finger 

Rapids 61 miles 

Five- Finger Rapids to Rink Rapids 3 miles 
Rink Rapids to mouth of Pelly 

River 56 miles 

Pelly River to Upper Ramparts. ... 120 miles 

Upper Ramparts to Ogilvie 20 miles 

Ogilvie to Dawson City, about 100 miles 

Total 1,662^ miles 



ALASKA. 95 

Mr. William Ogilvie, Land Surveyor for the Canadian 
Government, makes the distance from the head of canoe 
navigation to Dawson City 575.70 miles. From San 
Francisco to Juneau is about 1,596 miles by water. The 
trip from Juneau to Dawson City requires from 23 to 28 
days if no serious delays are experienced. 

The great rush through Chilkoot Pass and conse- 
quent blockading of the way has led to the investigation of 
other possible routes from Juneau to the head-waters of 
the Yukon. One of the ways recommended is known as 
the Taku Route. The entrance to Taku Inlet, from 
which the route takes its name, is about twelve miles 
south of Juneau and is navigable to ocean vessels for 
eighteen miles, to the mouth of the Taku River. This 
river is navigable for canoes at all stages of water for 58 
miles, to the mouth of Nakinah River, where there is a 
portage of 70 miles in a northeasterly direction to Lake 
Teslin. From here, Dawson City, 598 miles distant, can. 
be reached by boat with comparative ease and the dan- 
gerous Miles Canon and White Horse Rapids are 
avoided. The total distance from Juneau to Dawson by 
the Taku route is about the same as that over the 
passes back of Dyea. 

The fourth route is the Stikine River Route, by way 
of that river to Telegraph Creek ; thence to Lake Teslin, 
where it joins the Taku Route. The trail has already 
been cut through from Telegraph Creek to Lake Teslin, 
a distance of 150 miles, and is said to be practicable for 
pack-trains, and with some work done on it, even for 
wagons. The Stikine River is navigable for the entire 
140 miles, to the mouth of Telegraph Creek. The ap- 
proximate distances from Seattle to Dawson City over 
the Stikine Route are reported to be as follows . 



96 ALASKA. 

Seattle to Fort Wrangell 750 miles 

Fort Wrangell up Stikiue River to Telegraph 

Creek 150 miles 

Telegraph Creek to Lake Teslin (overland) . . 150 miles 
Lake Teslin to Dawson City, through that 
lake to Hootalinqua, Lewis and Yukon 
rivers 598 miles 

Total 1 ,648 miles 

A route by the way of the Copper River Valley and 
the White River Valley is also suggested. Lieutenant 
Allen reports the Copper River not navigable, though it 
is navigated by the natives ; he ascended its left bank to 
the mouth of the Slana, then traveling by the way of 
Lake Susloto across the divide (4,500 feet above the sea) 
to the Tanana River ; that stream he reached in approxi- 
mate latitude 63 ° 24', and longitude about 143 40', as 
taken from his chart of the route. From this place he 
indicates two trails, and from a point a few miles down 
the Tanana a third, all leading toward the White River. 
Or the trail may follow up the Copper, Chittyua and 
Chittestone rivers, thence across the Scoloi Pass to the 
head- waters of the White River. 

Captain P. H. Ray, United States Army, who has 
been sent by the Government into the Klondike for the 
purpose of making recommendations for the betterment 
of affairs there, reports " a practical route from the Tan- 
ana across the divide to the head of Cook's Inlet, via the 
head of Copper River," and expresses the opinion that 
" as soon as the development of the Territory will 
justify, this will be the shortest and most practicable 
route for railroad communication with the open sea. 
With rail communication from the head of Cook's Inlet 
to the Tanana the commerce of the whole Yukon Valley 



ALASKA. 97 

could be controlled by routes lying wholly in our own 
territory." A company of American capitalists is con- 
sidering the advisability of constructing a railroad along 
this route. 

There is also a trail to the Tanana by way of the 
Copper and Slano River valleys through the Mentasta 
Pass. Trails also connect the Copper River and Sush- 
nita rivers, and the latter with the Kuskokwim. The 
natives have regular camping-stations along the Copper 
River. It is about no miles from the head of canoe 
navigation on the Copper River to the head of naviga- 
tion on the White River. 

The distance by steamer from Seattle to Copper 
River is 1,150 miles, and from the mouth of Copper 
River to Dawson would be between 500 and 550 miles, 
following the windings of the streams and valleys. 
There are said to be no rapids on White River and 
plenty of timber along the route. Distances by this 
route are about as follows : 
Mouth of Copper River to mouth of Chittyua 

River 115 miles 

Mouth of Chittyua River to Scoloi Pass 100 miles 

Scoloi Pass to head of White River 30 miles 

Head of White River (navigable for small 

boats) 300 miles 

545 
There is also a pass back of Yakutat Bay reached by 

crossing over to and following up the Alsek River and 

crossing over to the White River, where the Copper 

River route is joined. There is an Indian trail over this 

route, and by it the distance from Sitka to Dawson is 

about 500 miles. 

From a point, Unalaklik, on Norton Sound, where 

there is a Swedish Mission (35 miles direct, or 55 miles 

by the coast, from St. Michael), there is a trail only 50 



9S ALASKA. 

miles long, followed by Lieutenant Allen, by the way of 
the Unalaklik and Autokakat rivers, to the Yukon, 
which it strikes nearly 400 miles from the latter's 
mouth. 

In addition to these United States routes, there is also 
an inland Canadian route, which is said to possess some 
advantages, and might be called a sort of "back door" 
route. It follows the old Hudson Bay Company's main 
trail to the north. An advantageous starting-point 
would be St. Paul, Minnesota. In going by this route 
the traveler leaves the railroad at Edmonton, Northwest 
Territory; thence overland forty miles to Athabaska 
Landing by stage. There the prospector must provide 
himself with a canoe, and he will have continuous water 
passage by w T ay of Athabaska Lake, Great Salt Lake and 
down the Mackenzie River to its mouth. From the 
mouth of the Mackenzie the Peel River is ascended, and 
then by portage across the Rocky Mountains to the 
Stewart River, which opens the way to the Klondike. 
The distances on this route, as given by the Hudson 
Bay Company and taken from railroad time-tables, are as 
follows : 

St. Paul to Edmonton . '. 1,232 miles 

Edmonton to Athabaska Landing 40 miles 

Athabaska Landing to Fort McMurray 240 miles 

Fort McMurray to Fort Chippewa 185 miles 

Fort Chippewa to Smith Landing 102 miles 

Smith Landing to Fort Smith 16 miles 

Fort Smith to Fort Resolution 194 miles 

Fort Resolution to Fort Providence 168 miles 

Fort Providence to Fort Simpson 161 miles 

Fort Simpson to Fort Wrigley 136 miles 

Fort Wrigley to Fort Norman . . 184 miles 

Fort Norman to Fort Goodhope 174 miles 



ALASKA. 99 

Fort Goodhope to Fort McPherson 282 miles 

Fort McPherson to Dawson City (estimated) 250 miles 

Total 3*364 miles 

There are several portages on this route, it is said, 
ranging in distance from a few hundred yards in length 
to about forty miles. Sixty days would be necessary to 
reach Fort McPherson. For the trip, birch-bark canoes 
of almost any size up to three tons burden can be se- 
cured of the Indians at Athabaska ; but in case they are 
used, Indian pilots should be taken along to manage them 
and keep them in repair. This trip requires about three 
months' time and costs in the neighborhood of $300, ex- 
clusive of tools, food, clothing, etc. 

There is another overland Canadian route from Ash- 
croft, a small trading-station on the Canadian Pacific 
Railroad about 250 miles from the coast, by wagon and 
pack-animals over the old telegraph trail to Lake Teslin, 
where boats must be secured to continue the journey by 
water to the Yukon country. 

The distances, as near as can be learned, over this 
route, are : 

St. Paul, Minn., to Ashcroft 1,571 miles 

Ashcroft to Soda Creek 165 miles 

Soda Creek to Quesnelle 60 miles 

Quesnelle to Hazleton 365 miles 

Hazleton to Nasse River 50 miles 

Nasse River to Telegraph Creek 100 miles 

Telegraph Creek to Lake Teslin 1 20 miles 

Lake Teslin to Dawson City 598 miles 

Total 3,029 miles 

Various schemes, projecting railroads, trolley lines, 
over-head car lines, pack-horse lines and improved 

LOFC 



100 ALASKA. 

wagon roads to the Alaska gold-fields, are talked of, but 
as yet few of them have assumed anything approaching 
definite shape, and only the developments of the future 
can determine what will result. 

The exact amount of money required to get a pas- 
senger from the Pacific Coast to the Alaska gold-fields 
can not be definitely stated, as so much depends upon 
the route selected and the individual's idea of what is 
necessary; but from reports and estimates from a variety 
of the best sources, it seems certain that there will be re- 
quired at least $150 for transportation and $100 more if 
the Yukon River route is selected; $150 to $200 for a 
mining outfit and a stock of provisions; then, prudence 
would suggest at least $250 to provide against possible 
misfortune. 

Heretofore communication between the outside 
world and the interior of Alaska has been uncertain and 
expensive, as letters were carried by private parties at a 
rate, it is reported, of $1.00 per letter, but the Post 
Office Department* has established monthly service for 
all classes of mail matter between Juneau and Circle 
City (a distance of over 900 miles), and through coopera- 
tion with the Canadian Government an international ex- 
change has been established between Dyea and Dawson 
City, with one round trip per month. The coast and 
river steamers carry the mail to and from the usual 
points touched. The extension and betterment of the 
service is contemplated to meet the requirement of any 
increased population, and through it the hardship of 
enforced non-intercourse with civilization will be greatly 
relieved. 



■For list of Post Offices in Alaska see Appendix G. 



ALASKA. 101 



Chapter IX. 



MINERS' OUTFITS * 



" There is wisdom in preparation, for sorrow besets the path 
of the thoughtless." 



Equipment for mining in Alaska is an important 
item, but little understood by amateur prospectors, and 
the character of its composition will materially affect 
results. 

It must be borne in mind that the trip to the gold- 
fields, however plentiful the metal may be, must result 
in failure, unless the miner's health be preserved. He 
must see to it himself that his body is well and warmly 
clad, and properly nourished with wholesome food. 

All reports agree that the game in the country can 
in no way be depended upon as a safe source of food- 
supply. In the spring of the year water-fowl appear in 
considerable abundance. Caribou, moose and mountain 
sheep and a few bear and some smaller animals are oc- 
casionally met with at all seasons. 

Speaking upon this subject, Mr. William Ogilvie, 
who has spent several years in the Yukon country, says : 
" For animal food there are the caribou and the moose, 
but the moose are never within 30 or 40 miles of the 
mines, so that it takes two or three days' going from the 
camps to hunt them. There are, too, white mountain 
sheep, pure white in color, but otherwise resembling 

*See Appendix D. 



102 ALASKA. 

very much in appearance those once found in more 
southern latitudes, but with a finer horn, more finely 
curved. The caribou, although they roam over the land 
in vast herds, are migratory in their nature, and are very 
rarely found two successive seasons in the same place. 
The natural products of the country, as a food-supply, 
may be said to be valueless when compared with the de- 
mand which will soon exist for it there. It might, in- 
deed, be said that all food will have to be imported. In 
the river are some small fish resembling the grayling, 
and the salmon annually make their way up as far as the 
canon, some 2,000 miles from the sea." 

In summer there is a variety and abundance of native 
berries, especially cranberries and " salmon" berries. 

Alaska is, generally speaking, a healthy country. 
The diseases most frequently met with in the Yukon 
country are dyspepsia, anaemia, scurvy, caused by im- 
properly cooked food, sameness of diet, overwork, want 
of fresh vegetables, over-heated and badly ventilated 
houses ; rheumatism, pneumonia, bronchitis, inflamma- 
tion of the bowels, or bladder, and other diseases 
brought on by exposure to wet and cold ; debility and 
chronic diseases brought on by excesses. Venereal dis- 
eases are common, especially among the natives. 

For healthy persons, pneumonia and scurvy are the 
most dreaded. The cause and symptoms of pneumonia 
are so well known that no descriptions are necessary. 
Scurvy results from the excessive dietary of cereals and 
preserved meats. Fresh vegetables and lime-juice are 
preventives, and also the cure,* but they act slowly. 



* Alkaline salts, such as carbonate of soda, carbonate of pot- 
ash and a variety of others, are also used as remedies, but they 
are liable to deteriorate and become worthless. 



ALASKA. 103 

The symptoms of scurvy come on gradually, being rec- 
ognized by failure of strength and exhaustion at slight 
exertion ; the countenance becomes sallow or dusky, the 
eyes sunken, and constant pains are felt in all the mus- 
cles. After some weeks, utter prostration ensues ; the 
mouth and gums become sore and the teeth drop out ; 
the breath is extremely offensive ; finally, dark spots and 
swellings appear on the body, with bleeding from the 
mucous membranes. Then painful and destructive ul- 
cers break out on the limbs ; finally, diarrhoea, or pul- 
monary or kidney trouble, may prove fatal. But even 
in desperate cases a return to a diet of fresh vegetables, 
or even lime-juice, will effect a cure. Lime-juice has 
driven scurvy from the ocean, where it was formerly the 
dread of every long voyage. 

Old miners have learned from experience to value 
health more than gold, and they therefore spare no ex- 
pense in procuring the best and most varied outfit of 
food that can be obtained. 

The severity of the climate will call for extra heavy 
clothing and increase the quantity of food necessary. 
As to what is required, it is better to be guided by the 
testimony of those who have been there than to rely 
upon the opinions of so-called experts at home. Opin- 
ions as to exactly what articles constitute an outfit are 
as various as the individuals who utter them. Hundreds 
of men who have had experience in this far northern 
climate have made up what they consider practical lists 
of food necessaries, which have appeared in the public 
press, and any one of them, doubtless, would meet the 
strict requirements of necessity. An analysis of twenty 
or more of such lists showed that individual tastes had 
largely governed in the choice and quantity of articles. 



104 ALASKA. 

Their composition differed greatty, and varied in quantity 
from three and one-half to five and one-half pounds per 
man per day. In selecting food articles those highly 
carbonaceous in character, such as salt pork, beans, 
flour, corn meal, oat meal, etc., should predominate. 
With the scarcity of fresh meat, vegetables and fruit, the 
danger of scurvy is increased, and anti-scorbutics should 
be provided in liberal proportions. Tea, in the main, is 
preferable to coffee, owing to its lightness and the ease 
with which it is prepared. One pound of tea is about 
equal for drinking purposes to seven pounds of coffee, 
though the latter possesses some food-value, while tea is 
only a stimulant. Chocolate is very palatable and ex- 
ceedingly nourishing. In place of sugar, saccharin may, 
if desired, be substituted, one ounce of saccharin being 
equal in sweetening power to thirty-three and one-half 
pounds of sugar. The only advantage gained, however, 
by such substitution would be a reduction in weight of 
baggage, as saccharin only sweetens, while sugar feeds. 

The Chicago Record's "Klondike Guide" states 
that: 

" The outfits purchased in Seattle by twenty experi- 
enced miners on their way to the Klondike are regarded 
as models by miners and prospectors who have returned 
from that region. The twenty men first divided them- 
selves into parties of four men each, intending to have 
a boat for each party, as well as a tent and various 
smaller articles. The main items of their outfits are as 
follows, the items, when not otherwise mentioned, being 
for one man : 

Bacon pounds, 150 

Flour pounds, 250 

Rolled oats pounds, 25 

Beans pounds, 100 



ALASKA. 105 

Tea pounds, 10 

Coffee pounds, 10 

Sugar pounds, 40 

Dried potatoes pounds, 25 

Dried onions pounds, 2 

Salt pounds, 1 o 

Pepper pounds, 1 

Dried fruit pounds, 75 

Baking powder pounds, 4 

Soda pounds, 2 

Evaporated vinegar pounds, x / 2 

Compressed soup ounces, 1 2 

Mustard can, 1 

Rice pounds, 40 

Matches (for 4 men) tin, 1 

Stove for 4 men, 

Gold pan for each, 

Set of granite buckets, 

Iyarge bucket, 

Knife, 

Fork, 

Spoon, 

Cup, 

Plate, 

Frying-pan, 

Coffee- and tea-pot, 

Scythe-stone, 

2 picks and 1 shovel, 

1 whip-saw, 
Pack-strap, 

2 axes for 4 men, and 1 extra handle, 

6 8-inch files and 2 taper files for the party, 
Drawing-knife, brace and bits, jack-plane and hammer, 

rip-saw, pocket rule, for the party, 
200 feet of ^-inch rope, 
8 pounds of pitch and 5 pounds of oakum, for 4 men, 

8 



106 ALASKA, 

Nails, 5 pounds each of 6-, 8-, io- and 12-penny, for 4 men, 

Shoemaker's thread, 

Shoemaker's awl, 

Gum for patching gum boots, 

Tent, 10 x 12 feet, for 4 men, 

Canvas for wrapping, 

2 oil blankets to each boat, 

5 yards of mosquito netting for each man, 

3 suits heavy underwear, 

1 heavy Mackinaw coat, 

2 pairs heavy Mackinaw trousers, 
y 2 dozen pairs heavy wool socks, 
y 2 dozen pairs heavy wool mittens, 
2 heavy undershirts, 

2 pairs heavy snow-proof rubber boots, 
2 pairs shoes, 
2 pairs blankets, 

4 towels, 

2 pairs overalls, 

1 suit oil clothing, 

2 rubber blankets. 

" Besides these things, each man procures a small as- 
sortment of medicines, and he is provided with several 
changes of summer clothing. The following is a list of 
medicines for four men: 
25 cents' worth Cascara Sagrada bark,* 
1 bottle good whiskey, 

3 boxes carbolized salve, 
1 bottle of arnica. 

" The above outfit costs, in round figures, as follows : 

Groceries $40.00 

Clothing 50.00 

Hardware 50.00 

Total $140.00 

*The same drug in form of tablets is preferable. 



ALASKA. 107 

" The fare to Dyea and incidentals brought the ex- 
penses of these twenty prospectors up to about $175 
each. They believe that they are well supplied for a 
year's stay in the land of the midnight sun." 

To the above list, carefully prepared as it is, should 
be added colored goggles, to prevent snow-blindness 
from the intense glare ; this is especially necessary in the 
spring of the year. A rifle, and perhaps a shot-gun too, 
with plenty of ammunition, together with fish-lines and 
hooks, will assist materially in adding to and vary- 
ing the food-supply. A fur-lined sleeping-bag is a great 
comfort in cold climates. Water-proof sacks to further 
protect clothing and provisions from the weather will 
more than save their cost, to say nothing of the increased 
comfort experienced through reaching camp with dry 
equipage. To the medicines should certainly be added 
one-half ounce quinine sulphate, four ounces Jamaica 
ginger, four ounces laudanum, some lint bandages and 
bleeding-powder. 

The traveler should be provided with the best map 
obtainable of the country and a reliable compass ; the 
latter, however, must be used with caution, as the varia- 
tion of the needle is from 30 to 35 ° to the east in 
the territory most likely to be traversed (Dyea to 
Dawson). 

While the above is given merely as a suggestion, 
certain it is that no party so provided would run much 
danger of suffering through lack of preparation. 

The United States Army emergency ration for one 
man for one day, based upon the scientific principles 
governing the repair of waste tissues, includes the fol- 
lowing components : 



108 ALASKA. 

OUNCES- 

Hard bread 16. 

Bacon 10. 

Pea meal 4. 

Coffee, roasted and ground, with 4 grains saccha- 
rin (or tea x / 2 ounce, with 4 grains saccharin). 2. 

Salt 64 

Pepper 04 

Tobacco 5 

Net weight, with coffee 33. 1 8 

Net weight, with tea 31-68 

While this ration is capable of maintaining the hu- 
man body in a healthy condition, under severe physical 
strain, for an indefinite period, it is not issued for an 
emergency expected to last more than five days, and the 
quantity intended for that period may be made to last 
twice the time, without material deterioration of the 
body ; its continued use, without the addition of anti- 
scorbutics, would, however, tend to the production of 
scurvy. 

A better form of tent than the 10x12 rectangular 
affair is the United States Army conical tent, made of 
12-ounce duck. It is very commodious, easy to pitch, 
staunch when in position, and is so arranged that the 
pipe for the stove serves as the center-pole. Camp cook- 
ing is an art acquired only through experience, and as 
some sort of stove seems necessary, it would be well to 
select some form of camp cooking-stove which is easily 
transported and will answer equally well out of doors 
or in a tent or building. All the articles requisite for 
mining and subsistence could possibly be purchased at 
Dawson City, Forty-Mile Or one of the trading-posts, but 
there is no certainty in the matter, and if reports be 
true, prices there range from two to five times the prices 



ALASKA. 109 

charged for the same articles in Seattle, Juneau, or other 
Pacific coast outfitting points. The foregoing list of 
supplies is prepared for those intending entering the 
fields by way of the passes back of Dyea. If the trip 
is made by water, the oakum and pitch may be omitted; 
also some of the tools. 

The boats that run up the Yukon are operated by 
companies who have storehouses in Circle City, Fort 
Cudahy, Forty-Mile, Dawson City and other points. 
These transportation and trading companies will not, it 
is said, transport food-supplies for their passengers, and 
for that reason they limit baggage to 150 pounds, as else- 
where stated, and the traveler is obliged to buy his out- 
fit at one of the trading-stores in the country. It is un- 
derstood that the Commercial Company has decided to 
carry freight for the travelers next year, which, if true, 
would materially lessen the expense to the prospector. 

The greatest demand for any particular thing on the 
Juneau route seems to be for boats. Heretofore, pros- 
pectors have had to build their own boats after reaching 
the head-waters of the Yukon, either from lumber which 
they carried along, or which they whip-sawed from the 
standing timber for the purpose. At present half a dozen 
companies are said to be working night and day on 
knock-down boats. It is said that one of these boats 
weighs about 200 pounds, costs $18, and will carry a ton 
of freight. They are so constructed that they can be 
taken apart and packed, no piece being longer than 
seven feet. Another builder is making galvanized iron 
boats, the sections of which nest, and when assembled 
are held together by small bolts. 

Such hardships and exposures as are sure to be met 
with in the Alaskan gold-fields should not enter into the 



HO ALASKA. 

life of a civilized woman, but as there are already several 
at Dawson City and other points, and the characteristic 
heroism and devotion of their sex are sure to prompt 
others to attempt the journey, either with their husbands 
or to seek fortune single-handed, a word relative to what 
should constitute their proper outfit is not thought to be 
out of place. In addition to such articles as are neces- 
sary to both sexes, the following are suggested particu- 
larly for women's comfort : 
A medicine chest, filled on the advice of a good 

physician, 
i small pillow, 
i fur robe, 
i warm shawl, 

i easy-fitting fur coat with hood, 
3 warm, loose-woven woolen dresses, with skirts to the 

knees only, to be worn with bloomers, 
3 suits of heavy all-wool underwear, 

3 warm flannel night-dresses, 

4 pairs knitted woolen stockings, 
i pair rubber boots, 

2 pairs fur gloves, 

2 pairs fur-seal moccasins, 

2 pairs wet-weather moccasins, called in the country 
" mukluks," 

i small roll flannel, for in-soles, wrapping the feet and 
for bandages, 

2 gingham aprons to cover the entire front of the dress, 

2 light shirt-waists for summer wear, 

A sewing kit, 

Such toilet articles as are absolutely necessary, includ- 
ing some skin unguent, to protect the face in the 
severe cold. 



ALASKA. HI 

The furs may be purchased on entering Alaska, but 
wise ones advise taking them along. 

The ordinary dress may be worn to the end of the 
steamboat journey, when civilized garb will have to be 
exchanged for one designed to meet the special require- 
ments of a peculiar life. Trunks are not the vehicles to 
transport baggage in. It is much better to pack effects 
in strong, soft canvas telescopes, or make them into 
bundles covered with canvas, and in all cases protected 
from the weather by oil-skin blankets. 

Mr. Harry De Windt, the explorer, who went through 
the Klondike region in 1896, says: 

" There is plenty of room for all between the Klon- 
dike and the Cassiar. Let the gold-seekers take their 
time and make prudent preparation. The ultimate re- 
sult will doubtless be that a little-known region will be 
dotted with thriving cities, and the shouts of triumph 
from the fortunate few will drown the dying wails of the 
many who fail." 

The present well-known gold-fields are partly in 
British territory, and all supplies crossing the boundary 
line are subject to a tariff tax by the Canadian Govern- 
ment. It is understood that it is not the intention to 
collect duty on personal outfits, but only on articles im- 
ported for commercial purposes and on machinery, etc.; 
but, as the undeniable right exists, gold-seekers must be 
prepared to pay to the Canadian customs officials an en- 
trance tax. For that reason there is inserted a table 
of rates for the principal articles composing a miner's 
outfit. 

Canadian Customs Rates. 

Shovels, spades, picks, etc., 25 per cent. 
Horses, 25 per cent. 



112 ALASKA. 

Axes, hatchets and adzes, 25 per cent. 

Blankets, 5 cents per pound and 25 per cent. 

Boats and ship sails, 25 per cent. 

Rubber boots, 25 per cent. 

Boots and shoes, 25 per cent. 

Breadstuff's — viz., grain, flour and meal of all kinds, 20 

per cent. 
Butter, 4 cents per pound. 
Candles, 28 per cent. 
Cartridges and ammunition, 30 per cent. 
Cheese, 3 cents per pound. 

Cigars, cigarettes, $2 per pound and 20 per cent. 
Cloth socks, 10 cents per dozen pairs and 35 per cent. 
Knitted goods of every description, 35 per cent. 
Ready-made goods, partially of wool, 30 per cent. 
Water-proof clothing, 35 per cent. 
Coffee, condensed, 30 per cent. 
Coffee, roasted, 2 cents per pound and 10 per cent. 
Coffee substitutes, 2 cents per pound; extracts, 3 cents 

per pound. 
Condensed milk, 3 cents per pound. 
Cotton knitted goods, 35 per cent. 
Crowbars, 35 per cent. 
Cutlery, 35 per cent. 
Dogs, 20 per cent. 
Drugs, 20 per cent. 
Duck, 20 to 30 per cent. 
Earthenware, 30 per cent. 
Edge tools, 35 per cent. 
Fire-arms, 20 per cent. 
Fish-hooks and lines, 25 per cent. 
Wheat flour, 75 cents per barrel. 
Rye flour, 50 cents per barrel. 









1 






1 

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1 












ffef 




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iBk rl " -II 





JUNEAU WATER FRONT, 



ALASKA. 113 

Fruit, dried, 25 per cent. 

Fruits : prunes, raisins, currants, 1 cent per pound. 

Fruits : jellies, jams and preserves, 3 cents per pound. 

Fur caps, muffs, capes, coats, 25 per cent. 

Furniture, 30 per cent. 

Galvanized iron or tinware, 30 per cent. 

Jerseys, knitted, 35 per cent. 

L,ard, 2 cents per pound. 

Ivinen clothing, 32^ per cent. 

Maps and charts, 20 per cent. 

Meats, canned, 25 per cent. 

Meats, in barrel, 2 cents per pound. 

Oat meal, 20 per cent. 

Oilcloth, 30 per cent. 

Pipes, 25 per cent. 

Potatoes, in barrel, 15 cents per bushel. 

Powder, mining and blasting, 2 cents per pound. 

Rice, 1 % cents per pound. 

Sacks or bags, 20 per cent. 

Saw-mills, portable, 30 per cent. 

Sugar, 64 cents per 100 pounds. 

Surgical instruments, 15 per cent. 

Tents, 32^ per cent. 



ALASKA. 115 



APPENDIX A. 



UNITED STATES MINING LAWS. 



UNITED STATES MINING LAWS AND REGULATIONS 
THEREUNDER/ 1 ' 



Department of the Interior, 

General Land Office, 

December 10, 1891. 

Gentlemen: Your attention is invited to the Re- 
vised Statutes of the United States and the amendments 
thereto in regard to 

MINING LAWS AND MINING RESOURCE. 
Title xxxii, Chapter 6. 

Section 231 8. In all cases lands valuable for 
minerals shall be reserved from sale except as other- 
wise expressly directed by law. 

Sec. 2319. All valuable mineral deposits in lands be- 
longing to the United States, both surveyed and unsur- 
veyed, are hereby declared to be free and open to 
exploration and purchase, and the lands in which they 
are found to occupation and purchase, by citizens of the 
United States and those who have declared their inten- 
tion to become such, under regulations prescribed by 
law, and according to the local customs or rules of 
miners in the several mining districts, so far as the same 
are applicable and not inconsistent with the laws of the 
United States. 

Sec. 2320. Mining-claims upon veins or lodes of 

••'Department of the Interior, General Land Office, Washing- 
ton, May 16, 1893. — This circular is reissued for the information 
and benefit of those concerned. — S. W. Lamoreux, Commis- 
sioner. 



110) ALASKA. 

quartz or other rock in place bearing gold, silver, cinna- 
bar, lead, tin, copper or other valuable deposits, hereto- 
fore located, shall be governed as to length along the 
vein or lode by the customs, regulations and laws in 
force at the date of their location. A mining-claim lo- 
cated after the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and 
seventy-two, whether located by one or more persons, 
may equal, but shall not exceed, one thousand five hun- 
dred feet in length along the vein or lode ; but no loca- 
tion of a mining-claim shall be made until the discovery 
of the vein or lode within the limits of the claim loca- 
ted. No claim shall extend more than three hundred 
feet on each side of the middle of the vein at the sur- 
face, nor shall any claim be limited by any mining regu- 
lation to less than twenty-five feet on each side of the 
middle of the vein at the surface, except where adverse 
rights existing on the tenth day of May, eighteen hun- 
dred and seventy-two, render such limitation necessary. 
The end-lines of each claim shall be parallel to each 
other. 

Sec. 2321. Proof of citizenship, under this chapter, 
may consist in the case of an individual, of his own 
affidavit thereof; in the case of an association of per- 
sons, unincorporated, of the affidavit of their authorized 
agent, made on his own knowledge, or upon information 
and belief; and in the case of a corporation organized 
under the laws of the United States, or of any State or 
Territory thereof, by the filing of a certified copy of their 
charter or certificate of incorporation. 

Sec. 2322. The locators of all mining, locations 
heretofore made or which shall hereafter be made, on 
any mineral vein, lode, or ledge, situated on the public 
domain, their heirs and assigns, where no adverse claim 
exists on the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and 
seventy-two, so long as they comply with the laws of the 
United States, and with State, Territorial, and local 
regulations not in conflict with the laws of the United 
States governing their possessory title, shall have the ex- 
clusive right of possession and enjoyment of all the sur- 
face included within the lines of their locations, and of 



ALASKA. 117 

all veins, lodes and ledges throughout their entire depth, 
the top or apex of which lies inside of such surface-lines 
extended downward vertically, although such veins, 
lodes or ledges may so far depart from a perpendicular 
in their course downward as to extend outside the verti- 
cal side-lines of such surface locations. But their right 
of possession to such outside parts of such veins or 
ledges shall be confined to such portions thereof as 
lie between vertical planes drawn downward, as above 
described, through the end-lines of their locations, so 
continued in their own direction that such planes 
will intersect such exterior parts of such veins or ledges. 
And nothing in this section shall authorize the lo- 
cator or possessor of a vein or lode which extends 
in its downward course beyond the vertical lines of his 
claim to enter upon the surface of a claim owned 
or possessed by another. 

Sec. 2323. Where a tunnel is run for the develop- 
ment of a vein or lode, or for the discovery of mines, the 
owners of such tunnel shall have the right of possession 
of all veins or lodes within three thousand feet from the 
face of such tunnel on the line thereof, not previously 
known to exist, discovered in such tunnel, to the 
same extent as if discovered from the surface ; and 
locations on the line of such tunnel of veins or lodes not 
appearing on the surface, made by other parties after the 
commencement of the tunnel, and while the same is be- 
ing prosecuted with reasonable diligence, shall be in- 
valid ; but failure to prosecute the work on the tunnel for 
six months shall be considered as an abandonment of the 
right to all undiscovered veins on the line of such 
tunnel. 

Sec. 2324. The miners of each mining-district may 
make regulations not in conflict with the laws of 
the United States, or with the laws of the State or 
Territory in which the district is situated, governing the 
location, manner of recording, amount of work necessary 
to hold possession of a mining-claim, subject to the 
following requirements: The location must be dis- 
tinctly marked on the ground so that its boundaries can 



1 1 8 ALASKA. 

be readily traced. All records of mining-claims here- 
after made shall contain the name or names of the 
locators, the date of the location, and such a description 
of the claim or claims located by reference to some 
natural object or permanent monument as will identify 
the claim. On each claim located after the tenth day of 
May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, and until a 
patent has been issued therefor, not less than one 
hundred dollars' worth of labor shall be performed or im- 
provements made during each year. On all claims located 
prior to the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and 
seventy-two, ten dollars' worth of labor shall be per- 
formed or improvements made by the tenth day of 
June, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, and each year 
thereafter, for each one hundred feet in length along the 
vein until a patent has been issued therefor; but where 
such claims are held in common, such expenditure 
may be made upon any one claim ; and upon a failure to 
comply with these conditions, the claim or mine 
upon which such failure occurred shall be open to 
relocation in the same manner as if no location of 
the same had ever been made, provided that the 
original locators, their heirs, assigns, or legal repre- 
sentatives, have not resumed work upon the claim after 
failure and before such location. Upon the failure 
of any one of several co-owners to contribute his propor- 
tion of the expenditures required hereby, the co-owners 
who have performed the labor or made the improve- 
ments may, at the expiration of the year, give such de- 
linquent co-owner personal notice in writing or no- 
tice by publication in the newspaper published nearest 
the claim, for at least once a week for ninety days, and if 
at the expiration of ninety days after such notice 
in writing or by publication such delinquent should fail 
or refuse to contribute his proportion of the expenditure 
required by this section, his interest in the claim 
shall become the prorerty of his co-owners who have 
made the required expenditures. 

Sec. 2325. A patent for any land claimed and lo- 
cated for valuable deposits may be obtained in the fol- 



ALASKA. 119 

lowing manner : Any person, association, or corpora- 
tion authorized to locate a claim under this chapter, hav- 
ing claimed and located a piece of land for such pur- 
poses, who has or have complied with the terms of this 
chapter, may file in the proper land-office an application 
for a patent, under oath, showing such compliance, to- 
gether with a plat and field-notes of the claim or claims 
in common, made by or under the direction of the United 
States Surveyor-General, showing accurately the bound- 
aries of the claim or claims, which shall be distinctly 
marked by monuments on the ground, and shall post a 
copy of such plat, together with a notice of such appli- 
cation for a patent, in a conspicuous place on the land 
embraced in such plat previous to the filing of the appli- 
cation for a patent, and shall file an affidavit of at least 
two persons that such notice has been duly posted, and 
shall file a copy of the notice in such land office, and 
shall thereupon be entitled to a patent for the land, in 
the manner following: The register of the land-office, 
upon the filing of such application, plat, field-notes, no- 
tices and affidavits, shall publish a notice that such ap- 
plication has been made, for the period of sixty days, in 
a newspaper to be by him designated as published near- 
est to such claim; and he shall also post such notice in 
his office for the same period. The claimant at the time 
of filing this application, or at any time thereafter, within 
the sixty days of publication, shall file with the register 
a certificate of the United States Surveyor-General that 
five hundred dollars' worth of labor has been expended 
or improvements made upon the claim by himself or 
grantors; that the plat is correct, with such further de- 
scription by such reference to natural objects or perma- 
ne.it monuments as shall identify the claim, and furnish 
an accurate description, to be incorporated in the patent. 
At the expiration of the sixty daj T s of publication, the 
claimant shall file his affidavit, showing that the plat and 
notice have been posted in a conspicuous place on the 
claim during such period of publication. If no adverse 
claim shall have been filed with the register and the re- 
ceiver of the proper land-office at the expiration of the 



120 ALASKA. 

sixty days of publication, it shall be assumed that the 
applicant is entitled to a patent upon the payment to the 
proper officer of five dollars per acre, and that no adverse 
claim exists ; and thereafter no objection from third par- 
ties to the issuance of a patent shall be heard, except it 
be shown that the applicant has failed to comply with the 
terms of this chapter. 

Skc. 2326. Where an adverse claim is filed during 
the period of publication, it shall be upon oath of the 
person or persons making the same, and shall show the 
nature, boundaries and extent of such adverse claim, and 
all proceedings, except the publication of notice and 
making and filing of the affidavit thereof, shall be stayed 
until the controversy shall have been settled or decided 
by a court of competent jurisdiction, or the adverse 
claim waived. It shall be the duty of the adverse claim- 
ant, within thirty days after filing his claim, to commence 
proceedings in a court of competent jurisdiction, to de- 
termine the question of the right of possession, and 
prosecute the same with reasonable diligence to final 
judgment ; and a failure so to do shall be a waiver of his 
adverse claim. After such judgment shall have been 
rendered, the party entitled to the possession of the 
claim, or any portion thereof, may, without giving further 
notice, file a certified copy of the judgment-roll with the 
register of the land-office, together with the certificate 
of the surveyor-general that the requisite amount of 
labor has been expended or improvements made thereon, 
and the description required in other cases, and shall pay 
to the receiver five dollars per acre for his claim, together 
with the proper fees, whereupon the whole proceedings 
and the judgment-roll shall be certified by the register to 
the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and a 
patent shall issue thereon for the claim, or such portion 
thereof as the applicant shall appear, from the decision 
of the court, to rightly possess. If it appears from the 
decision of the court that several parties are entitled to 
separate and different portions of the claim, each party 
may pay for his portion of the claim with the proper 
fees, and^filethe certificate and description by the sur- 



ALASKA. 121 

veyor-general, whereupon the register shall certify the 
proceedings and judgment-roll to the Commissioner of 
the General Land Office, as in the preceding case, and 
patents shall issue to the several parties according to 
their respective rights. Nothing herein contained shall 
be construed to prevent the alienation of a title con- 
veyed by a patent for a mining-claim to any person 
whatever. 

Sec. 2327. The description of vein or lode claims, 
upon surveyed lands, shall designate the location of the 
claim with reference to the lines of the public surveys, 
but need not conform therewith ; but where a patent 
shall be issued for claims upon unsurveyed lands, the 
surveyor-general, in extending the surveys, shall adjust 
the same to the boundaries of such patented claim, ac- 
cording to the plat or description thereof, but so as in no 
case to interfere with or change the location of any such 
patented claim. 

Sec. 2328. Applications for patents for mining-claims 
under former laws now pending may be prosecuted to a 
final decision in the General Land Office; but in such 
cases where adverse rights are not affected thereby, pat- 
ents may issue in pursuance of the provisions of this 
chapter; and all patents for mining-claims upon veins or 
lodes heretofore issued shall convey all the rights and 
privileges conferred by this chapter where no adverse 
rights existed on the tenth day of May, eighteen hun- 
dred and seventy-two. 

Sec. 2329. Claims usually called "placers," includ- 
ing all forms of deposit, excepting veins of quartz, or 
other rock in place, shall be subject to entry and patent, 
under like circumstances and conditions, and upon simi- 
lar proceedings, as are provided for vein or lode claims ; 
but where the lands have been previously surveyed by 
the United States, the entry in its exterior limits shall 
conform to the legal subdivisions of the public lands. 

Sec. 2330. Legal subdivisions of forty acres may be 
subdivided into ten-acre tracts ; and two or more persons, 
or associations of persons, having contiguous claims of 
any size, although such claims may be less than ten acres 



[22 LLASKA. 

each, may make joint entry thereof; but no location of a 
placer-claim, made after the ninth day of July, eighteen 
hundred and seventy, shall exceed one hundred and sixty 
acres for any one person or association of persons, which 
location shall conform to the United States surveys; and 
nothing in this section contained shall defeat or impair 
any bona fide pre-emption or homestead claim upon agri- 
cultural lands, or authorize the sale of the improvements 
of any bona fide settler to any purchaser. 

Sec, 2331. Where placer-claims are upon surveyed 
lands, and conform to legal subdivisions, no further sur- 
vey or plat shall be required, and all placer-mining claims 
located after the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred 
and seventy-two, shall conform a^ near as practicable 
with the United States system of public-land surveys, 
and the rectangular subdivisions of such surveys, and no 
such location shall include more than twenty acres for 
each individual claimant; but where placer-claims can 
not be conformed to legal subdivisions, survey and plat 
shall be made as on unsurveyed lands ; and where by the 
segregation of mineral lands in any legal subdivision a 
quantity of agricultural land less than forty acres re- 
mains, such fractional portion of agricultural laud may 
be entered by any party qualified by law, for homestead 
or pre-emption purposes. 

Sec. 2332. Where such person or association, they 
and their grantors, have held and worked their claims for 
a period equal to the time prescribed by the statute of 
limitations for mining-claims of the State or Territory 
where the same may be situated, evidence of such pos- 
session and working of the claims for such period shall 
be sufficient to establish a right to a patent thereto un- 
der this chapter, in the absence of any adverse claim ; 
but nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to impair 
any lien which may have attached in any way whatever 
to any mining-claim or property thereto attached prior 
to the issuance of a patent. 

Sec. 2333. Where the same person, association, or 
corporation is in possession of a placer-claim, and also a 
vein or lode included within the boundaries thereof ap- 



ALASKA. 123 

plication shall be made for a patent for the placer-claim, 
with the statement that it includes such vein or lode, 
and in such a case a patent shall issue for the placer- 
claim, subject to the provisions of this chapter, including 
such vein or lode, upon the payment of five dollars per 
acre for such vein or lode claim, and twenty-five feet of 
surface on each side thereof. The remainder of the 
placer-claim, or any placer-claim not embracing any vein 
or lode-claim, shall be paid for at the rate of two dollars 
and fifty cents per acre, together with all costs of pro- 
ceedings ; and where a vein or lode, such as is described 
in section twenty-three hundred and twenty, is known 
to exist within the boundaries of a placer-claim, an ap- 
plication for a patent for such placer- claim which does 
not include an application for the vein or lode-claim shall 
be construed as a conclusive declaration that the claimant 
of the placer-claim has no right of possession of the 
vein or lode claim ; but where the existence of a vein or 
lode in a placer claim is not known, a patent for the 
placer-claim shall convey all valuable mineral and other 
deposits within the boundaries thereof. 

Sec. 2334. The surveyor-general of the United 
States may appoint in each land-district containing 
mineral lands as many competent surveyors as shall 
apply for appointment to survey mining-claims. The 
expenses of the survey of vein or lode claims, and 
the survey and sub-division of placer-claims into smaller 
quantities than one hundred and sixty acres, together 
with the cost of publications of notices, shall be paid by 
the applicants, and they shall be at liberty to obtain the 
same at the most reasonable rates, and they shall also be 
at liberty to employ any United States deputy surveyor 
to make the survey. The Commissioner of the General 
Land Office shall also have power to establish the minu- 
mum charges for surveys and publication of notices 
under this chapter; and, in case of excessive charges for 
publication, he may designate any newspaper published 
in a land-district where mines are situated for the publi- 
cation of mining-notices in such district, and fix the rates 
to be charged by such paper; and, to the end that 



1*24 ALASKA. 

the Commissioner may be fully informed on the subject, 
each applicant shall file with the register a sworn 
statement of all charges and fees paid by such ap- 
plicant for publication and surveys, together with all fees 
and money paid the register and the receiver of the land- 
office, which statement shall be transmitted, with the 
other papers in the case, to the Commissioner of the 
General Land Office. 

Sec. 2335. All affidavits required to be made under 
this chapter may be verified before any officer author- 
ized to administer oaths within the land-district where 
the claims may be situated, and all testimony and proofs 
may be taken before any such officer, and, when 
duly certified by the officer taking the same, shall 
have the same force and effect as if taken before 
the register and receiver of the land-office. In cases 
of contest as to the mineral or agricultural character 
of land, the testimony and proofs may be taken as herein 
provided on personal notice of at least ten days to the op- 
posing party; or if such party cannot be found, then by 
publication of at least once a week for thirty days in a 
newspaper, to be designated by the register of the land- 
office as published nearest to the location of such land ; 
and the register shall require proof that such notice has 
been given. 

Sec. 2336. Where two or more veins intersect or 
cross each other, priority of title shall govern, and such 
prior location shall be entitled to all ore or mineral con- 
tained within the space of intersection; but the subse- 
quent location shall have the right of way through the 
space of intersection for the purposes of the convenient 
working of the mine. And where two or more veins 
unite, the oldest or prior location shall take the vein be- 
low the point of union, including all the space of inter- 
section. 

Sec. 2337. Where non-mineral land not contiguous 
to the vein or lode is used or occupied by the proprietor 
of such vein or lode for mining or milling purposes, 
such non-adjacent surface-ground may be embraced and 
included in an application for a patent for such vein or 



ALASKA. 125 

lode, and the same may be patented therewith, subject 
to the same preliminary requirements as to survey and 
notice as are applicable to veins or lodes ; but no location 
hereafter made of such non-adjacent land shall exceed 
five acres, and payment for the same must be made at 
the same rate as fixed by this chapter for the superficies 
of the lode. The owner of a quartz-mill or deduction 
works, not owning a mine in connection therewith, may 
also receive a patent for his mill-site, as provided in this 
section. 

Sec. 2338. As a condition of sale, in the absence of 
necessary legislation by Congress, the local legislature of 
any State or Territory may provide rules for work- 
ing mines, involving easements, drainage and other 
necessary means to their complete development ; and 
those conditions shall be fully expressed in the patent. 

Sec. 2339. Whenever, by priority of possession, 
rights to the use of water for mining, agricultural, 
manufacturing, or other purposes, have vested and ac- 
crued, and the same are recognized and acknowledged 
by the local customs, laws and the decisions of courts 
the possessors and owners of such vested rights shall be 
maintained and protected in the same; and the right of 
way for the construction of ditches and canals for the 
purposes herein specified is acknowledged and con- 
firmed ; but whenever any person, in the construction of 
any ditch or canal, injures or damages the possession of 
any settler on the public domain, the party committing 
such injury or damage shall be liable to the party injured 
for such injury or damage. 

Sec. 2340. All patents granted, or pre-emption or 
homesteads allowed, shall be subject to any vested and 
accrued water-rights, or rights to ditches and reservoirs 
used in connection with such water-rights, as may have 
been acquired under or recognized by the preceding sec- 
tion. 

Sec. 2341. Whenever, upon the lands heretofore 
designated as mineral lands, which have been excluded 
from survey and sale, there have been homesteads made 
by citizens of the United States, or persons who have de- 



12G ILASKA. 

clared their intention to become citizens, which home- 
steads have been made, improved and used for agri- 
cultural purposes, and upon which there have been 
no valuable mines of gold, silver, cinnabar or copper 
discovered, and which are properly agricultural lands, 
the settlers or owners of such homesteads shall have a 
right of pre-emption thereto, and shall be entitled to pur- 
chase the same at the price of one dollar and twenty- five 
cents per acre, and in quantity not to exceed one hun- 
dred and sixty acres ; or they may avail themselves of 
the provisions of chapter five of this title, relating to 
"Homesteads." 

Sec. 2342. Upon the survey of the lands described 
in the preceding section, the Secretary of the Interior 
may designate and set apart such portions of the same as 
are clearly agricultural lands, which lands shall there- 
after be subject to pre-emption and sale as other public 
lands, and be subject to all the laws and regulations ap- 
plicable to the same. 

Sec. 2343. The President is authorized to establish 
additional land- districts and to appoint the necessary 
officers under existing laws wherever he may deem the 
same necessary for the public convenience in executing 
the provisions of this chapter. 

Sec. 2344. Nothing contained in this chapter shall 
be construed to impair, in any way, rights or interests in 
mining property acquired under existing laws; nor to 
affect the provisions of the act entitled " An act granting 
to A. Sutro the right of way and other privileges to aid 
in the construction of a draining and exploring tunnel to 
the Comstock lode, in the State of Nevada, 1 ' approved 
July twenty-five, eighteen hundred and sixty-six. 

Sec. 2345. The provisions of the preceding sections 
of this chapter shall not apply to the mineral lands situ- 
ated in the states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minne- 
sota, which are declared free and open to explora- 
tion and purchase, according to legal sub-divisions, in 
like manner as before the tenth day of May, eighteen 
hundred and seventy-two. And any bo?ia fide entries of 
such lands within the states named since the tenth 



ALASKA. 127 

of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two may be 
patented without reference to any of the foregoing 
provisions of this chapter. Such lands shall be offered for 
public sale in the same manner, at the same minimum 
price and under the same rights of pre emption as other 
public lands. 

Sec. 2346. No act passed at the first session of the 
thirty-eighth Congress, granting lands to states or cor- 
porations to aid in the construction of roads or for other 
purposes, or to extend the time of grants made prior to 
the thirtieth day of January, eighteen hundred and sixty- 
five, shall be so construed as to embrace mineral 
lands, which in all cases are reserved exclusively to the 
United States, unless otherwise specially provided in the 
act or acts making the grant. 



REPEAL PROVISIONS. 
Title lxxiv. 

Sec. 5595. The foregoing seventy-three titles em- 
brace the statutes of the United States general and per- 
manent in their nature in force on the 1st day of Decem- 
ber, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, 
as revised and consolidated by commissioners appointed 
under an act of Congress, and the same shall be designa- 
ted and cited as The Revised Statutes of the United 
States. 

Sec. 5596. All acts of Congress passed prior to said 
first day of December, one thousand eight hundred 
and seventy-three, any portion of which is embraced in 
any section of said revision, are hereby repealed, and the 
section applicable thereto shall be in force in lieu 
thereof; all parts of such acts not contained in such 
revision, having been repealed or superseded by 
subsequent acts, or not being general and permanent 
in their nature : Provided, That the incorporation into 
such revision of any general and permanent provision, 
taken from an act making appropriations, or from 
an act containing other provisions of a private, local 
or temporary character shall not repeal or in any way 



128 ALASKA. 

affect any appropriation, local or temporary char- 
acter, contained in any of said acts, but the same shall 
remain in force ; and all acts of Congress passed prior to 
said last-named day, no part of which are embraced 
in said revision, shall not be affected or changed by its 
enactment. 

Sec. 5597. The repeal of the several acts embraced 
in said revision shall not affect any act done, or any right 
accruing or accrued, or any suit or proceeding had 
or commenced in any civil cause before the said repeal, 
but all rights and liabilities under said acts shall 
continue, and may be enforced in the same manner 
as if said repeal had not been made; nor shall said repeal 
in any manner affect the right to any office or change the 
term or tenure thereof. 

Sec. 5598. All offenses committed and all penalties 
or forfeitures incurred under any statute embraced in 
said revision prior to said repeal, may be prosecuted and 
punished in the same manner and with the same effect 
as if said repeal had not been made. 

Sec. 5599. All acts of limitation, whether applicable 
to civil causes and proceedings, or to the prosecution of 
offenses, or for the recovery of penalties or forfeitures 
embraced in said revision and covered by said re- 
peal shall not be affected thereby, but all suits, proceed- 
ings or prosecutions, whether civil or criminal, for causes 
arising, or acts done or committed prior to said repeal, 
may be commenced and prosecuted within the same 
time as if said repeal had not been made. 

Sec. 5600. The arrangement and classification of 
the several sections of the revision have been made 
for the purpose of a more convenient and orderty 
arrangement of the same, and therefore no inference 
or presumption of a legislative construction is to be 
drawn by reason of the Title under which an\ particular 
section is placed. 

Sec. 5601. The enactment of the said revision is not 
to affect or repeal any act of Congress passed since 
the first day of December, one thousand eight hun- 
dred and seventy-three, and all acts passed since that 



ALASKA. 129 

date are to have full effect as if passed after the 

enactment of this revision, and so far as such acts 

vary from or conflict with any provision contained 

in said revision they are to have effect as subse- 
quent statutes, and as repealing any portion of the 
revision inconsistent therewith. 
Approved June 22, 1874. 



AN ACT to amend the act entitled " An act to promote the de- 
velopment of the mining resources of the United States," 
passed May tenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-two. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives of the United States of America in Congress as- 
sembled, That the provisions of the fifth section of the 
act entitled " An act to promote the development of the 
mining resources of the United States," passed May 
tenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, which requires 
expenditures of labor and improvements on claims lo- 
cated prior to the passage of said act are. hereby so 
amended that the time for the first annual expenditure 
on claims located prior to the passage of said act shall be 
extended to the first day of January, eighteen hundred 
and seventy-five. 

Approved, June 6, 1874 (18 Stat., 61). 



AN ACT to amend section two thousand three hundred and 
twenty-four of the Revised Statutes, relating to the develop- 
ment of the mining resources of the United States. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives of the United States of America in Congress as- 
sembled, That section two thousand three hundred and 
twenty-four of the Revised Statutes be, and the same is 
hereby amended so that where a person or company has 
or may run a tunnel for the purpose of developing a 
load or lodes, owned by said p-rson or company, the 
money so expended in said tunnel shall be taken and 
considered as expended on said lode or lodes, whether 
located prior to or since the passage of said act, and such 
person or company shall not be required to perform work 



130 ALASKA. 

on the surface of said lode or lodes in order to hold the 
same as required by said act. 

Approved February n, 1875 (18 Stat., 315). 



AN ACT to exclude the States of Missouri and Kansas from the 
provisions of the act of Congress entitled " An act to pro- 
mote the development of the mining resources of the United 
States," approved May tenth, eighteen hundred and seventy- 
two. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represe?ita- 
tives of the United States of America in Co?igress as- 
sembled, That within the States of Missouri and Kansas 
deposits of coal, iron, lead, or other mineral be, and they 
are hereby, excluded from the operation of the act en- 
titled "An act to promote the development of the mining 
resources of the United States," approved May tenth, 
eighteen hundred and seventy-two, and all lands in 
said States shall be subject to disposal as agricultural 
lands. 

Approved May 5, 1876 (19 Stat., 52). 



AN ACT authorizing the citizens of Colorado, Nevada and the 
Territories to fell and remove timber on the public domain 
for mining and domestic purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives of the United States of America in Congress as- 
sembled, That all citizens of the United States and 
other persons, bona fide residents of the State of Colo- 
rado or Nevada, or either of the Territories of New 
Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Dakota, Idaho, or 
Montana, and all other mineral districts of the United 
States, shall be and are hereby, authorized and permitted 
to fell and remove for building, agricultural, mining, or 
other domestic purposes, any timber or other trees grow- 
ing or being on the public lands, said lands being min- 
eral, and not subject to entry under existing laws of the 
United States, except for mineral entry, in either of said 
States, Territories or districts of which such citizens or 
persons may be at the time bona fide residents, subject 



ALASKA. 131 

to such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the In- 
terior may prescribe for the protection of the timber and 
of the undergrowth growing upon such lands, and for 
other purposes : Provided, The provisions of this act 
shall not extend to railroad corporations. 

Sec. 2. That it shall be the duty of the register and 
the receiver of any local land-ofEce in whose district any 
mineral land may be situated to ascertain from time to 
time whether any timber is being cut or used upon any 
such lands, except for the purposes authorized by this 
act, within their respective land districts ; and, if so, they 
shall immediately notify the Commissioner of the Gen- 
eral Land Office of that fact ; and all necessary expenses 
incurred in making such proper examinations shall be 
paid and allowed such register and receiver in making 
up their next quarterly accounts. 

Sec. 3. Any person or persons who shall violate the 
provisions of this act, or any rules and regulations in 
pursuance thereof made by the Secretary of the In- 
terior, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, 
upon conviction, shall be fined in any sum not exceed- 
ing five hundred dollars, and to which may be added 
imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months. 

Approved June 3, 1878 (20 Stat., 88). 



AN ACT to amend sections twenty-three hundred and twenty- 
four and twenty-three hundred and twenty-five of the Re- 
vised Statutes of the United States concerning mineral 
lands. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives of the United States of America in Congress as- 
sembled, That section twenty- three hundred and twenty- 
five of the Revised Statutes of the United States be 
amended by adding thereto the following words: " Pro- 
vided, That where the claimant for a patent is not a resi- 
dent of or within the land-district wherein the vein, 
lode, ledge or deposit sought to be patented is located, 
the application for patent and the affidavits required to 
be made in this section by the claimant for such patent 
may be made by his, her, or its authorized agent, where 



[32 ALASKA. 

said agent is conversant with the facts sought to be es- 
tablished by such affidavits : And provided, That this 
section shall apply to all applications now pending for 
patents to mineral lands." 

Sec. 2. That section twenty-three hundred and 
twenty-four of the Revised Statutes of the United States 
be amended by adding the following words : " Provided, 
That the period within which the work required to be 
done annually on all unpatented mineral claims shall 
commence on the firs': day of January succeeding the 
date of location of such claim, and this section shall ap- 
ply to all claims located since the tenth day of May, 
anno Domini eighteen hundred and seventy-two." 

Approved January 22, 1880 (21 Stat., 61). 



AN ACT to amend section twenty-three hundred and twenty-six 
of the Revised Statutes relating to suits at law affecting the 
title to mining- claims. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives of the United States of America in Congress as- 
sembled, That if, in any action brought pursuant to sec- 
tion twenty-three hundred and twenty-six of the Revised 
Statutes, title to the ground in controversy shall not be 
established by either party, the jury shall so find, and 
judgment shall be entered according to the verdict. In 
such case costs shall not be allowed to either party, and 
the claimant shall not proceed in the land office or be 
entitled to a patent for the ground in controversy until 
he shall have perfected his title. 

Approved March 3, 1881 (21 Stat., 505). 



AN ACT to amend section twenty-three hundred and twenty-six 
of the Revised Statutes in regard to mineral lands and for 
other purposes. 

Beit enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives of the United States of America in Congress as- 
sembled, That the adverse claim required by section 
twenty-three hundred and twenty-six of the Revised 






ALASKA. 133 

Statutes may be verified by the oath of any duly author- 
ized agent or attorney-in-fact of the adverse claimant 
cognizant of the facts stated ; and the adverse claimant, 
if residing or at the time being beyond the limits of the 
district wherein the claim is situated, may make oath to 
the adverse claim before the clerk of any court of record 
of the United States or the State or Territory where the 
adverse claimant may then be, or before any notary pub- 
lic of such State or Territory. 

Sec. 2. That applicants for mineral patents, if re- 
siding beyond the limits of the district wherein the claim 
is situated, may make any oath or affidavit required for 
proof of citizenship before the clerk of any court of 
record, or before any notary public of any State or Ter- 
ritory. 

Approved April 26, 1882 (22 Stat., 49). 



An ACT to exclude the public lands in Alabama from the opera- 
tion of the laws relating to mineral lands. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives of the United States of America in Congress as- 
sembled, That within the State of Alabama all public 
lands, whether mineral or otherwise, shall be subject to 
disposal only as agricultural lands : Provided, however \ 
That all lands which have heretofore been reported to 
the General Land Office as containing coal and iron shall 
first be offered at public sale : And provided further, 
That any bona fide entry under the provisions of the 
homestead law of lands within said State heretofore 
made may be patented without reference to an act ap- 
proved May tenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, 
entitled, "An act to promote the development of the 
mining resources of the United States," in cases where 
the persons making application for such patents have in 
all other respects complied with the homestead law re- 
lating thereto. 

Approved March 3, 1883 (22 Stat., 487). 



134 ALASKA. 

AN ACT providing a civil government for Alaska. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives of the United States of America in Congress as- 
sonblcd ^^^■^■^^^■^■^ 

Sec. 8. That the said district of Alaska is hereby 
created a land district, and a United States land office 
for said district is hereby located at Sitka. The com- 
missioner provided for by this act to reside at Sitka shall 
be ex officio register of said land office, and the clerk 
provided for by this act shall be ex officio receiver of 
public moneys, and the marshal provided for by this act 
shall be ex officio surveyor-general of said district and 
the laws of the United States relating to mining claims, 
and the rights incident thereto, shall, from and after the 
passage of this act, be in full force and effect in said dis- 
trict, under the administration thereof herein provided 
for, subject to such regulations as may be made by the 
Secretary of the Interior, approved by the President : 
Provided, That the Indians or other persons in said dis- 
trict shall not be disturbed in the possession of any lands 
actually in their use or occupation or now claimed by 
them, but the terms under which such persons may ac- 
quire title to such lands is reserved for future legislation 
by Congress : And provided further, That parties who 
have located mines or mineral privileges therein under 
the laws of the United States applicable to the public 
domain, or who have occupied and improved or exer- 
cised acts of ownership over such claims, shall not be 
disturbed therein, but shall be allowed to perfect their 
title to such claims by payment as aforesaid : And pro- 
vided also, That the land not exceeding six hundred and 
forty acres at any station now occupied as missionary 
stations among the Indian tribes in said section, with the 
improvements thereon erected by or for such societies, 
shall be continued in the occupancy of the several re- 
ligious societies to which said missionary stations re- 
spectively belong until action by Congress. But nothing 
contained in this act shall be construed to put in force 



ALASKA. 135 

iii said district the general land laws of the United 
States. 

Approved May 17, 1884 (23 Stat., 24). 



AN ACT making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the 
Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eight- 
een hundred and ninety-one, and for other purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate a?id House of Representa- 
tives of the United States of America in Congress as- 
sembled, ******** 

No person who shall, after the passage of this act, 
enter upon any of the public lands with a view to occu- 
pation, entry, or settlement under any of the land laws 
shall be permitted to acquire title to more than three 
hundred and twenty acres in the aggregate, under all of 
said laws, but this limitation shall not operate to curtail 
the right of any person who has heretofore made entry 
or settlement on the public lands, or whose occupation, 
entry, or settlement is validated by this act : Provided, 
That in all patents for lands hereafter taken up under 
any of the land laws of the United States or on entries 
or claims validated by this act, west of the one hundredth 
meridian it shall be expressed that there is reserved 
from the lands in said patent described a right of way 
thereon for ditches or canals constructed by the author- 
ity of the United States. * * * * * 

Approved August 30, 1890 (26 Stat., 371). 



AN ACT to repeal timber-culture laws, and for other purposes^ 

Be it enacted by the Senate a?id House of Representa- 
tives of the United States of America in Congress as- 
sembled, ******** 

Sec. 16. That towusite entries may be made by in- 
corporated towns and cities on the mineral lands of the 
United States, but no title shall be acquired by such 
towns or cities to any vein of gold, silver, cinnabar, cop- 
per or lead, or to any valid mining claim or possession 



136 ALASKA. 

held under existing law. When mineral veins are pos- 
sessed within the limits of an incorporated town or city, 
and such possession is recognized by local authority or 
by the laws of the United States, the title to town lots 
shall be subject to such recognized possession and the 
necessary use thereof and when entry has been made or 
patent issued for such townsites to such incorporated 
town or cit}', the possessor of such mineral vein may enter 
and receive patent for such mineral vein locations, and of 
all surface ground appertaining thereto : Provided, That 
no entry shall be made by such mineral- vein claimant for 
surface ground where the owner or occupier of the sur- 
face ground shall have had possession of the same 
before the inception of the title of the mineral-vein 
applicant. 

Sec. 17. That reservoir sites located or selected and 
to be located and selected under the provisions of "An 
act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of 
the Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, 
eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, and for other pur- 
poses," and amendments thereto, shall be restricted to 
and shall contain only so much land as is actually neces- 
sary for the construction and maintenance of reservoirs, 
excluding so far as practicable lands occupied by actual 
settlers at the date of the location of said reservoirs, and 
that the provisions of "An act making appropriations 
for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the 
fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and 
ninety-one, and for other purposes," which reads as fol- 
lows, viz : "No person who shall after the passage of 
this act enter upon any of the public lands with a view 
to occupation, entry or settlement under any of the land 
laws shall be permitted to acquire title to more than 
three hundred and twenty acres in the aggregate under 
all said laws," shall be construed to include in the maxi- 
mum amount of lands the title to which is permitted to 
be acquired by one person only agricultural lands and 
not include lands entered or sought to be entered under 

mineral land laws. 

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Approved March 3, 1891 (26 Stat., 1095). 




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ALASKA. 137 

MINERAL LANDS OPKN TO -EXPLORATION, OCCUPATION, 
AND PURCHASE. 

1. It will be perceived that by the foregoing provisions 
of law the mineral lands in the public domain, surveyed 
or unsurveyed, are open to exploration, occupation and 
purchase by all citizens of the United States and all 
those who have declared their intentions to become 
such. 

STATUS OF LODE-CLAIMS LOCATED PRIOR TO MAY IO, 

1872. 

2. By an examination of the several sections of the 
Revised Statutes it will be seen that the status of lode- 
claims located previous to the 10th of May, 1872, is not 
changed with regard to their extent along the lode or 
width of surface. 

3. Mining rights acquired under such previous loca- 
tions are, however, enlarged by such Revised Statutes in 
the following respect, viz : The locators of all such pre- 
viously taken veins or lodes, their heirs and assigns, so 
long as they comply with the laws of Congress and with 
State, Territorial or local regulations not in conflict 
therewith, governing mining claims, are invested with 
the exclusive possessory right of all the surface in- 
cluded within the lines of their veins, lodes or ledges 
throughout their entire depth, the top or apex of 
which lies inside of such surface lines extended down- 
ward vertically, although such veins, lodes or ledges may 
so far depart from a perpendicular in their course down- 
ward as to extend outside the verticle side-lines of such 
locations at the surface, it being expressly provided, 
however, that the right of possession to such outside 
parts of said veins or ledges shall be confined to such 
portions thereof as lie between vertical planes drawn 
downward, as aforesaid, through the end lines of their 
locations so continued in their own direction that such 
planes will intersect such exterior parts of such veins, 
lodes or ledges ; no right being granted, however, to the 
10 — 



138 ALASKA. 

claimant of such outside portion of a vein or ledge to 
enter upon the surface location of another claimant. 

4. It is to be distinctly understood, however, that the 
law limits the possessory right to veins, lodes or ledges, 
other than the one named in the original location, to 
such as were not adversely claimed on May 10, 1872, and 
that where such other vein or ledge was so adversely 
claimed at that date, the right of the party so adversely 
claiming is in no way impaired by the provisions of the 
Revised Statutes. 

5. In order to hold the possessory title to a mining 
claim located prior to May 10, 1872, and for which a 
patent has not been issued, the law requires that ten 
dollars shall be expended annually in labor or improve- 
ments on each claim of one hundred feet on the course 
of the vein or lode until a patent shall have been issued 
therefor ; but where a number of such claims are held 
in common upon the same vein or lode, the aggregate 
expenditure th it would be necessary to hold all the 
claims, at the rate of ten dollars per hundred feet, may 
be made upon any one claim; a failure to comply with this 
requirement in any one year subjecting the claim upon 
which such failure occurred to relocation by other par- 
ties, the same as if no previous location thereof had ever 
been made, unless the claimants under the original loca- 
tion shall have resumed work thereon after such failure 
and before such re-location. The first annual expendi- 
ture upon claims of this class should have been per- 
formed subsequent to May 10, 1872, and prior to January 
1, 1875. From and after January 1, 1875, the required 
amount must be expended annually until patent issues. 
By decision of the honorable Secretary of the Interior, 
dated March 4, 1879, such annual expenditures are not 
required subsequent to entry, the date of issuing the 
patent certificate being the date contemplated by statute. 

6. Upon the failure of any one of several co-owners 
of a vein, lode or ledge, which has not been entered, to 
contribute his proportion of the expenditures necessary 
to hold the claim or claims so held in ownership in com- 
mon, the co-owners, who have performed the labor or 



ALASKA. 139 

made the improvements as required by said Revised 
Statutes, may, at the expiration of the year, give such 
delinquent co-owner personal notice in writing, or notice 
by publication in the newspaper published nearest the 
claim for at least once a week for ninety days ; and if 
upon the expiration of ninety days after such notice in 
writing, or upon the expiration of one hundred and 
eighty days after the first newspaper publication of no- 
tice, the delinquent co-owner shall have failed to con- 
tribute his proportion to meet such expenditures or im- 
provements, his interest in the claim by law passes to 
his co-owners who have made the expenditures or im- 
provements as aforesaid. Where a claimant alleges 
ownership of a forfeited interest under the foregoing 
provision, the sworn statement of the publisher as to the 
facts of publication, giving dates and a printed copy of 
the notice published, should be furnished, and the claim- 
ant must swear that the delinquent co-owner failed to 
contribute his proper proportion within the period fixed 
by the statute. 

PATENTS FOR VEINS OR LODES HERETOFORE ISSUED. 

7. Rights under patents for veins or lodes heretofore 
granted under previous legislation of Congress are en- 
larged by the Revised Statutes so as to invest the pat- 
entee, his heirs or assigns, with title to all veins, lodes 
or ledges throughout their entire depth the top or 
apex of which lies within the end and side boundary 
lines of his claim on lies the surface, as patented, 
extended downward vertically, although such veins, 
lodes or ledges may so far depart from a perpen- 
dicular in their course downward as to extend out- 
side the verticle side-lines of the claim at the sur- 
face. The right of possession to such outside parts 
of such veins or ledges to be confined to such portions 
thereof as lie between verticle planes drawn downward 
through the end lines of the claims at the surface, so 
continued in their own direction that such planes will 
intersect such exterior parts of such veins or ledges ; it 
being expressly provided, however, that all veins, lodes 



1^0 ALASKA. 

or ledges, the top or apex of which lies inside such sur- 
face locations, other than the one named in the patent, 
which were adversely claimed on the 10th of May, 1872, 
are excluded from such conveyance by patent. 

8. Applications for patents for mining-claims pend- 
ing at the date of the act of May 10, 1872, may be prose- 
cuted to final decision in the general Land Office, and 
where no adverse rights are affected thereby patents will 
be issued in pursuance of the provisions of the Revised 
Statutes. 

MANNER OF LOCATING CLAIMS ON VEINS OR LODES 
AFTER MAY IO, 1 872. 

9. From and after the 10th May, 1872, any person 
who is a citizen of the United States, or who has 
declared his intention to become a citizen, may lo- 
cote, record and hold a mining claim of fifteen hun- 
dred linear jeet along the course of any mineral vein 
or lode subject to location ; or an association of per- 
sons, severally qualified as above, may make joint lo- 
cation of such claim of fifteen hundred feet, but in 
no event can a location of a vein or lode made subse- 
quent to May 10, 1872, exceed fifteen hundred feet along 
the course thereof, whatever may be the number of per- 
sons composing the association. 

10. With regard to the extent of surface-ground ad- 
joining a vein or lode and claimed for the convenient 
working thereof, the Revised Statutes provide that 
the lateral extent of locations of veins or lodes made 
after May 10, 1872, shall in no case exceed three hundred 
feet on each side of the middle of the vein at the sur- 
face, and that no such surface rights shall be limi- 
ted by any mining regulations to less than twenty- 
five feet on each side of the middle of the vein at 
the surface, except where adverse rights existing on the 
10th May, 1872, may render such limitation neces- 
sary ; the end-lines of such claims to be in all cases 
parallel to each other. Said lateral measurements can- 
not extend beyond three hundred feet on either side 
of the middle of the vein at the surface, or such distance 



ALASKA. 141 

as is allowed by local laws. For example : 400 feet can- 
not be taken on one side and 200 feet on the other. If, 
however, 300 feet on each side are allowed, and by 
reason of prior claims but 100 feet can be taken on one 
side, the locator will not be restricted to less than 
300 feet on the other side; and when the locator 
does not determine by exploration where the middle 
of the vein at the surface is his discovery shaft must be 
assumed to mark such point. 

n. B3 7 the foregoing it will be perceived that no 
lode-claim located after the 10th May, 1872, can exceed 
a parallelogram fifteen hundred feet in length by six 
hundred feet in width, but whether surface-ground of 
that width can be taken depends upon the local regula- 
tions or State or Territorial laws in force in the several 
mining districts; and that no such local regulations 
or State or Territorial laws shall limit a vein or lode 
claim to less than fifteen hundred feet along the course 
thereof, whether the location is made by one or more per- 
sons, nor can surface rights be limited to less than fifty 
feet in width, unless adverse claims existing on the 10th 
day of May, 1872, render such lateral limitation neces- 
sary. 

12. It is provided by the Revised Statutes that 
the miners of each district may make rules and regula- 
tions not in conflict with the laws of the United States, 
or of the state or territory in which such districts 
are respectively situated, governing the location, man- 
ner of recording and amount of work necessary to 
hold possession of a claim. They likewise require that 
the location shall be so distinctly marked on the ground 
that its boundaries may be readily traced. This is a very 
important matter and locators cannot exercise too much 
care in defining their locations at the outset, inasmuch as 
the law requires that all records of mining locations 
made subsequent to May 10, 1872, shall contain the 
name or names of the locators, the date of the lo- 
cation and such a description of the claim or claims 
located by reference to some natural object or permanent 
monument, as will identify the claim. 



142 ALASKA. 

13. The statutes provide that no lode-claim shall 
be recorded until after the discovery of a vein or 
lode within the limits of the claim located, the ob- 
ject of which provision is evidently to prevent the 
appropriation of presumed mineral ground for specula- 
tive purposes to the exclusion of bona fide prospectors, 
before sufficient work has been done to determine 
whether a vein or lode really exists. 

14. The claimant should, therefore, prior to locating 
his claim, unless the vein can be traced upon the 
surface, sink a shaft or run a tunnel or drift to a 
sufficient depth therein to discover and develop a 
mineral-bearing vein, lode or crevice ; should determine, 
if posssble, the general course of such vein in either di- 
rection from the point of discovery, by which direction 
he will be governed in marking the boundaries of his 
claim on the surface. His location notice should give 
the course and distance as nearly as practicable from 
the discovery-shaft on the claim to some permanent, 
well-known points or objects, such, for instance, as stone 
monuments, blazed trees, the confluence of streams, 
point of intersection of well-known gulches, ravines 
or roads, prominent buttes, hills, etc., which may be 
in the immediate vicinity and which will serve to 
perpetuate and fix the locus of the claim and render 
it susceptible of identification from the description 
thereof given in the record of locations in the dis- 
trict and should be duly recorded. 

15. In addition to the foregoing data the claimant 
should state the names of adjoining claims, or, if none 
adjoin, the relative positions of the nearest claims; 
should drive a post or erect a monument of stones 
at each corner of his surface-ground, and at the point of 
discovery or discovery shaft should fix a post, stake or 
board, upon which should be designated the name 
of the lode, the name or names of the locators, the num- 
ber of feet claimed and in which direction from the 
point of discovery; it being essential that the loca- 
tion notice filed for record, in addition to the fore- 
going description should state whether the entire claim 



ALASKA. 143 

of fifteen hundred feet is taken on one side of the point 
of discovery or whether it is partly upon one and partly 
upon the other side thereof, and in the latter case, how 
many feet are claimed upon each side of such discovery- 
point. 

1 6. Within a reasonable time, say twenty days, after 
the location shall have been marked on the ground, 
or such time as is allowed by the local laws, notice 
thereof, accurately describing the claim in manner afore- 
said, should be filed for record with the proper recorder 
of the district, who will thereupon issue the usual certifi- 
cate of location. 

17. In order to hold the possessory right to a loca- 
tion made since May 10, 1872, not less than one hundred 
dollars' worth of labor must be performed, or improve- 
ments made thereon annually until entry shall have been 
made. Under the provisions of the act of Congress ap- 
proved January 22, 1880, the first annual expenditure 
becomes due and must be performed during the calendar 
year succeeding that in which the location was made. 
Expenditure made or labor performed prior to the 
first day of January succeeding the date of location 
will not be considered as a part of or applied upon 
the first annual expenditure required by law. Failure to 
make the expenditure or perform the labor required will 
subject the claim to relocation by any other party having 
the necessary qualifications, unless the original locator, 
his heirs, assigns or legal representatives have resumed 
work thereon after such failure and before such reloca- 
tion. 

18. The expenditures required upon mining claims 
may be made from the surface or in running a tunnel for 
the development of such claims, the act of February 11, 
1875, providing that where a person or company has, or 
may run a tunnel for the purpose of developing a lode 
or lodes owned by^said person or company, the money so 
expended in said tunnel shall be taken and considered 
as expended on said lode or lodes, and such person or 
company shall not be required to perform work on the 
surface of said lode or lodes in order to hole the same. 



144 ALASKA. 

19. The importance of attending to these details in 
the matter of location, labor and expenditure will be the 
more readily perceived when it is understood that a 
failure to give the subject proper attention may invali- 
date the claim. 

TUNNEL RIGHTS. 

20. Section 2323 provides that where a tunnel is 
run for the development of a vein or lode, or for the dis- 
covery of mines the owners of such tunnels shall 
have the right of possession of all veins or lodes within 
three thousand feet from the face of such tunnel on the 
line thereof, not previously known to exist, discovered 
in such tunnel, to the same extent as if discovered from 
the surface ; and locations on the line of such tunnel or 
veins or lodes not appearing on the surface, made by 
other parties after the commencement of the tunnel, and 
while the same is being prosecuted with reasonable dili- 
gence, shall be invalid ; but failure to prosecute the work 
on the tunnel for six months shall be considered as an 
abandonment of the right to all undiscovered veins or 
lodes on the line of said tunnel. 

The effect of this is simply to give the proprietors of 
a mining tunnel run in good faith the possessory right to 
fifteen hundred feet of any blind lodes cut, discovered or 
intersected by such tunnel, which were not previously 
known to exist, within three thousand feet from the face 
or point of commencement of such tunnel, and to pro- 
hibit other parties, after the commencement of the tun- 
nel, from prospecting for and making locations of lodes 
on the line thereof and within said distance of three 
thousand feet, unless such lodes appear upon the surface 
or were previously known to exist. 

22. The term " face," as used in said section, is con- 
strued and held to mean the first working-face formed in 
the tunnel, and to signify the point at which the tunnel 
actually enters cover ; it being from this point that the 
three thousand feet are to be counted, upon which pros- 
pecting is prohibited as aforesaid. 

23. To avail themselves of the benefits of this pro- 



ALASKA. 145 

vision of law the proprietors of a mining tunnel will be 
required at the time they enter cover, as aforesaid, to 
give proper notice of their tunnel location by erecting a 
substantial post, board or monument at the face or point 
of commencement thereof, upon which should be posted 
a good and sufficient notice, giving the names of the par- 
ties or company claiming the tunnel-right ; the actual or 
proposed course or direction of the tunnel; the height 
and width thereof and the course and distance from such 
face or point of commencement to some permanent well- 
known objects in the vicinity by which to fix and deter- 
mine the locus in manner heretofore set forth applicable 
to locations of veins or lodes, and at the time of posting 
such notice they shall, in order that miners or prospec- 
tors may be enabled to determine whether or not they 
are within the lines of the tunnel, establish the 
boundary lines thereof, by stakes or monuments placed 
along such lines at proper intervals, to the terminus 
of the three thousand feet from the face or point of com- 
mencement of the tunnel, and the lines so marked will 
define and govern as to the specific boundaries within 
which prospecting for lodes not previously known to 
exist is prohibited while work on the tunnel is being 
prosecuted with reasonable diligence. 

24. At the time of posting notice and marking out 
the lines of the tunnel, as aforesaid, a full and correct 
copy of such notice of location defining the tunnel claim 
must be filed for record with the mining recorder of the 
district, to which notice must be attached the sworn 
statement or declaration of the owners, claimants or pro- 
jectors of such tunnel, setting forth the facts in the case ; 
stating the amount expended by themselves and their 
predecessors in interest in prosecuting work thereon; 
the extent of the work performed, and that it is bona fide 
their intention to prosecute work on the tunnel so loca- 
ted and described with reasonable diligence for the de- 
velopment of a vein or lode, or for the discovery of mines, 
or both, as the case may be. This notice of location 
must be duly recorded, and, with the said sworn state- 



146 ALASKA. 

ment attached, kept on the recorder's files for future 
reference. 

25. By a compliance with the foregoing much need- 
less difficulty will be avoided, and the way for the adjust- 
ment of legal rights acquired in virtue of said section 
2323 will be made much more easy and certain. 

26. This office will take particular care that no im- 
proper advantage is taken of this provision of law by 
parties making or professing to make tunnel locations, 
ostensibly for the purpose named in the statute, but 
really for the purpose of monopolizing the lands lying 
in front of their tunnels to the detriment of the mining 
interests and to the exclusion of bona fide prospectors 
or miners, but will hold such tunnel claimants to a strict 
compliance with the terms of the statutes; and treasonable 
diligence on their part in prosecuting the work is one of 
their essential conditions of their implied contract. Neg- 
ligence or want of due diligence will be construed as 
working a forfeiture of their right to all undiscovered 
veins on the line of such tunnel. 

MANNER OF PROCEEDING TO OBTAIN GOVERNMENT TI- 
TLE TO VEIN OR LODE CLAIMS. 

27. By section 2325 authority is given for granting 
titles for mines by patent from the Government to any 
person, association, or corporation having the necessary 
qualifications as to citizenship and holding the right of 
possession to a claim in compliance with law. 

28. The claimant is required in the first place to have 
a correct survey of his claim made under authority of the 
surveyor-general of the State or Territory in which the 
claim lies ; such survey to show with accuracy the ex- 
terior surface boundaries of the claim, which boundaries 
are required to be distinctly marked by monuments on 
the ground. Four plats and one copy of the original 
field notes, in each case, will be prepared by the sur- 
veyor-general ; one plat and the original field notes to be 
retained in the office of the surveyor-general, one copy 
of the plat to be given the claimant for posting upon the 



ALASKA. 147 

claim, one plat and a copy of the field notes to be given 
the claimant for filing with the proper register, to be 
finally transmitted by that officer, with other papers in 
the case, to this office, and one plat to be sent by the sur- 
veyor-general to the register of the proper land district to 
be retained on his files for future reference. As there is 
no resident surveyor-general for the State of Arkansas, 
applications for the survey of mineral claims in said 
State should be made to the Commissioner of this 
office, who, under the law, is ex officio the U. S. surveyor- 
general. 

29. The claimant is then required to post a copy of 
the plat of such survey in a conspicuous place upon the 
claim, together with notice of his intention to apply for 
a patent therefor, which notice will give the date of post- 
ing, the name of the claimant, the name of the claim, 
mine, or lode ; the mining district and county ; whether 
the location is of record, and, if so, where the record 
may be found ; the number of feet claimed along the 
vein and the presumed direction thereof; the number of 
feet claimed on the lode in each direction from the point 
of discovery, or other well-defined place on the claim ; 
the name or names of adjoining claimants on the same 
or other lodes; or, if none adjoin, the names of the 
nearest claims, etc. 

30. After posting the said plat and notice upon the 
premises, the claimant will file with the proper register 
and receiver a copy of such plat and the field notes of 
survey of the claim, accompanied by the affidavit of at 
least two credible witnesses, that such plat and notice 
are posted conspicuously upon the claim, giving the date 
and place of such posting; a copy of the notice so 
posted to be attached to, and form a part of said affidavit. 

31. Accompanying the field notes so filed must be the 
sworn statement of the claimant that he has the possess- 
ory right to the premises therein described, in virtue of 
a compliance by himself (and by his grantors, if he claims 
by purchase) with the mining rules, regulations and cus- 
toms of the mining district, State or Territory in which 
the claim lies, and with the mining laws of Congress; such 



14S ALASKA. 

sworn statement to narrate briefly, but as clearly as pos- 
sible, the facts constituting such compliance, the origin 
of his possession and the basis of his claim to a patent. 

32. This affidavit should be supported by appropriate 
evidence from the mining recorder's office as to his pos- 
sessor} 7 right, as follows, viz : Where he claims to be the 
locator, or a locator in company with others who have 
since conveyed their interest in the location to him, a 
full, true and correct copy of such location should be 
furnished, as the same appears upon the mining records; 
such copy to be attested by the seal of the recorder, or 
if he has no seal, then he should make oath to the same 
being correct, as shown by his records. Where the ap- 
plicant claims only as a purchaser for valuable considera- 
tion, a copy of the location record must be filed under 
seal or upon oath as aforesaid, with an abstract of title 
from the proper recorder, under seal or oath as afore- 
said, brought down as near as practicable to date of filing 
the application, tracing the right of possession by a con- 
tinuous chain of conveyances from the original locators 
to the applicant, also certifying that no conveyances af- 
fecting the title to the claim in question appear of record 
in his office other than those set forth in the accompany- 
ing abstract. 

33. In the event of the mining records in any case 
having been destroyed by fire or otherwise lost, affidavit 
of the fact should be made, and secondary evidence of 
possessory title will be received, which may consist of 
the affidavit of the claimant, supported by those of any 
other parties cognizant of the facts relative to his loca- 
tion, occupancy, possession, improvements, etc.; and in 
such case of lost records, any deeds, certificates of loca- 
tion or purchase, or other evidence which may be in the 
claimant's possession and tend to establish his claim, 
should be filed. 

34. Upon the receipt of these papers the register will, 
at the expense of the claimant(who must furnish the 
agreement of the publisher to hold applicant for patent 
alone responsible for charges of publication), publish a 
notice of such application for the period of sixty days in 



ALASKA. 149 

a newspaper published nearest to the claim, and will post 
a copy of such notice in his office for the same period. 
When the notice is published in a weekly newspaper ten 
consecutive insertions are necessary; when in a daily 
newspaper the notice must appear in each issue for sixty- 
one consecutive issues, the first day of issue being ex- 
cluded in estimating the period of sixty days. 

35. The notices so published and posted must be as 
full and complete as possible, and embrace all the data 
given in the notice posted upon the claim. 

36. Too much care can not be exercised in the prep- 
aration of these notices, inasmuch as upon their accuracy 
and completeness will depend, in a great measure, the 
regularity and validity of the whole proceeding. 

37. In the publication of final-proof notices the reg- 
ister has no discretioji under the law to designate any 
other than the newspaper " nearest the land " for such 
purpose when such paper is a newspaper of general 
circulation. But he will in all cases designate the news- 
paper of general circulation that is published nearest 
the land, geographically measured. When two or more 
papers are published in the same town, nearest the land, 
he may select the one which, in his honest and impar- 
tial judgment as a public officer, will best subserve the 
purpose of the law and the general interests of the 
public. 

38. Newspaper charges must not exceed the rates 
established by this office for the publication of legal 
notices. 

39. The claimant, either at the time of filing these 
papers with the register or at any time during the sixty 
days' publication, is required to file a certificate of the 
surveyor-general that not less than five hundred dollars' 
worth of labor has been expended or improvements 
made upon the claim by the applicant or his grantors ; 
that the plat filed by the claimant is correct ; that the 
field notes of the survey, as filed, furnish such an accu- 
rate description of the claim as will, if incorporated into 
a patent, serve to fully identify the premises, and that 
such reference is made therein to natural objects or 



150 ALASKA. 

permanent monuments as will perpetuate and fix the 
locus thereof. 

40. It will be the more convenient way to have this 
certificate indorsed by the surveyor-general, both upon 
the plat and field notes of survey filed by the claimant 
as aforesaid. 

41. After the sixty days' period of newspaper publica- 
tion has expired the claimant will furnish from the office 
of publication a sworn statement that the notice was 
published for the statutory period, giving the first and 
last day of such publication, and his own affidavit show- 
ing that the plat and notice aforesaid remained conspicu- 
ously posted upon the claim sought to be patented dur- 
ing said sixty days' publication, giving the dates. 

42. Upon the filing of this affidavit the register will, 
if no adverse claim was filed in his office during the 
period of publication, permit the claimant to pay for the 
land according to the area given in the plat and field 
notes of survey aforesaid, at the rate of five dollars for 
each acre and five dollars for each fractional part of an 
acre, the receiver issuing the usual duplicate receipt 
therefor. The claimant will also make a sworn state- 
ment of all charges and fees paid by him for publication 
and surveys, together with all fees and money paid the 
register and receiver of the land office; after which the 
whole matter will be forwarded to the Commissioner of 
the General Land Office and a patent issued thereon if 
found regular. 

43. In sending up the papers in the case the register 
must not omit certifying to the fact that the notice was 
posted in his office for the full period of sixty days, such 
certificate to state distinctly when such posting was done 
and how long continued. 

44. The consecutive series of numbers of mineral 
entries must be continued, whether the same are of lode 
or placer claims or mill-sites. 

45. The surveyors-general should designate all sur- 
veyed mineral claims by a progressive series of numbers, 
beginning with survey No. 37, irrespective as to whether 
they are situated on surveyed or unsurveyed lands, the 



ALASKA. 151 

claim to be so designated at date of issuing the order 
therefor, in addition to the local designation of the claim; 
it being required in all cases that the plat and field notes 
of the survey of a claim must, in addition to the refer- 
ence to permanent objects in the neighborhood, describe 
the locus of the claim, with reference to the lines of pub- 
lic surveys, by a line connecting a corner of the claim 
with the nearest public corner of the United States sur- 
veys, unless such claim be on unsurveyed lands at a 
distance of more than two miles from such public cor- 
ner, in which latter case it should be connected with a 
United States mineral monument. Such connecting line 
must not be more than two miles in length and should be 
measured on the ground direct between the points, or 
calculated from actually surveyed traverse lines if the 
nature of the country should not permit direct measure- 
ment. If a regularly established survey corner is within 
two miles of a claim situated on unsurveyed lands, the 
connection should be made with such corner in prefer- 
ence to a connection with a United States mineral monu- 
ment. The connecting line must be surveyed by the 
deputy mineral surveyor at the time of his making the 
particular survey, and be made a part thereof. 

46. Upon the approval of the survey of a mining 
claim made upon surveyed lands, the surveyor-general 
will prepare and transmit to the local land office and to 
this office a diagram tracing showing the portions of le- 
gal 40-acre sub-divisions made fractional by reason of the 
mineral survey, designating each of such portions by the 
proper lot number, beginning with No. 1 in each section 
and giving the area of each lot. 

47. The survey and plat of mineral claims, required 
by section 2325, Revised Statutes of the United States, 
to be filed in the proper land office, with application for 
patent, must be made subsequent to the recording of the 
location of the mine ; and when the original location is 
made by survey of a United States deputy surveyor such 
location survey can not be substituted for that required 
by the statute, as above indicated. 

48. The surveyor-general should derive his informa- 



152 ALASKA, 

tion upon which to base his certificate as to the value of 
labor expended or improvements made from his deputy 
who makes the actual survey and examination upon the 
premises, and such deputy should specify with particu- 
larity and full detail the character and extent of such 
improyements. 

49. The following particulars should be observed in 
the survey of every mining claim : 

(1) The exterior boundaries of the claim should be 
represented on the plat of survey and in the field notes. 

(2) The intersection of the lines of the survey with 
the lines of conflicting prior surveys should be noted in 
the field-notes and represented upon the plat. 

(3) Conflicts with unsurveyed claims, where the ap- 
plicant for survey does not claim the area in conflict, 
should be shown by actual survey. 

(4) The total area of the claim embraced by the ex- 
terior boundaries should be stated, and also the area in 
conflict with each intersecting survey, substantially as 
follows : 

Acres. 

Total area of claim 1050 

Area in conflict with survey No. 302 1.56 

Area in conflict with survey No. 948 2.33 

Area in conflict with Mountain Maid lode mining 

claim, unsurveyed 1.48 

It does not follow that because mining surveys are re- 
quired to exhibit all conflicts with prior surveys the areas 
of conflict are to be excluded. The field-notes and plat 
are made a part of the application for patent, and care 
should be taken that the description does not inad- 
vertently exclude portions intended to be retained. It is 
better that the application for patent should state the 
portions to be excluded in express terms. A survey exe- 
cuted, as in the example given, will enable the applicant 
for patent to exclude such conflicts as may seem de- 
sirable. For instance, the conflict with survey No. 302 
and with the Mountain Maid lode claim might be ex- 
cluded and that with survey No. 948 included. 

50. The rights granted to locators under section 



ALASKA. 153 

2322, Revised Statutes, are restricted to such locations 
on veins, lodes or ledges as may be "situated on the pub- 
lic domain" In applications for lode claims where the 
survey conflicts with a prior valid lode claim or entry and 
the ground in conflict is excluded, the applicant not only 
has no right to the excluded ground, but he has no right 
to that portion of any vein or lode the top or apex of 
which lies within such excluded ground, unless his loca- 
tion was prior to May 10, 1872. His right to the lode 
claimed terminates where the lode, in its onward course 
or strike, intersects the exterior boundry of such exclu- 
ded ground and passes within it. 

51. The end line of his survey should not, therefore, 
be established beyond such intersection, unless it should 
be necessary so to do for the purpose of including ground 
held and claimed under a location which was made upon 
public land and valid at the time it was made. To in- 
clude such ground (which may possibly embrace other 
lodes) the end line of the survey may be established 
within the conflicting survey, but the line must be so run 
as not to extend any farther into the conflicting survey 
than may be necessary to make such end line parallel to 
the other end line and at the same time embrace the 
ground so held and claimed. The useless practice in 
such cases of extending both the side lines of a survey 
into the conflicting survey and establishing an end line 
wholly within it, beyond a point necessary under the rule 
just stated, will be discontinued. 

PLACER CLAIMS. 

52. The proceedings to obtain patents for claims 
usually called placers, including all forms of deposit, ex- 
cepting veins of quartz or other rock in place, are simi- 
lar to the proceedings prescribed for obtaining patents 
for vein or lode claims ; but where said placer claim shall 
be upon surveyed lands, and conforms to legal sub-di- 
visions, no further survey or plat will be required, and 
all placer mining claims located after May 10, 1872, shall 
conform as nearly as practicable with the United States 

system of public- land surveys and the rectangular subdi- 
11 — 



15 4 ALASKA. 

visions of such surveys, and no such location shall in- 
clude more than twenty acres for each individual claim- 
ant; but where placer claims can not be conformed to le- 
gal sub-divisions, survey and plat shall be made as on 
unsurveyed lands. But where such claims are located 
previous to the public surveys, and do not conform to le- 
gal sub-divisions, survey, plat and entry thereof may be 
made according to the boundaries thereof, provided the 
location is in all respects legal. 

53. The proceedings for obtaining patents for veins 
or lodes having already been fully given, it will not be 
necessary to repeat them here, it being thought that 
careful attention thereto by applicants and the local 
officers will enable them to act understanding^ in the 
matter and make such slight modifications in the notice, 
or otherwise, as may be necessary in view of the different 
nature of the two classes of claims, placer claims being 
fixed, however, at two dollars and fifty cents per acre, or 
fractional part of an acre. 

54. Ity section 2330, authority is given for the sub- 
division of forty-acre legal sub-divisions into ten-acre lots, 
which is intended for the greater convenience of miners 
in segregating their claims both from one another and 
from intervening agricultural lands. 

55. It is held, therefore, that under a proper con- 
struction of the law these ten-acre lots in mining districts 
should be considered and dealt with, to all intents and 
purposes, as legal sub-divisions, and that an applicant 
having a legal claim which conforms to one or more of 
these ten-acre lots, either adjoining or cornering, may 
make entry thereof, after the usual proceedings, without 
further survey or plat. 

56. In cases of this kind, however, the notice given 
of the application must be very specific and accurate in 
description, and as the forty-acre tracts may be sub-di- 
vided into ten-acre lots, either in the form of squares of 
ten by ten chains, or if parallelograms five by twenty 
chains, so long as the lines are parallel and at right 
angles with the lines of the public surveys, it will be 
necessary that the notice and application state specifi- 



ALASKA. 155 

cally what ten-acre lots are sought to be patented, in ad- 
dition to the other data required in the notice. 

57. Where the ten- acre sub-division is in the form 
of a square it may be described, for instance, as the 
" SB. \ of the SW. i of NW. i," or, if in the form of a 
parallelogram, as aforesaid, it may be described as the 
" W. i of the W. J of the SW. J of the NW. £ (or the N. 

I of the S. J of the NE. i of the SE. J) of section , 

township , range ," as the case may be ; but, 

in addition to this description of the land, the notice 
must give all the other data that is required in a mineral 
application, by which parties may be put on inquiry as 
to the premises sought to be patented. The proofs sub- 
mitted with applications for claims of this kind must 
show clearly the character and the extent of the im- 
provements upon the premises. 

Inasmuch as the surveyor-general has no duty to per- 
form in connection with the entry of a placer claim of le- 
gal sub-divisions, the proof of improvements .must show 
their value to be not less than five hundred dollars and 
that they were made by the applicant for patent or his 
grantors. The annual expenditure to the amount of 
$100, required by section 2324, Revised Statutes, must 
be made upon placer claims as well as lode claims. 

58. Applicants for patent to a placer claim, who are 
also in possession of a known vein or lode included 
therein, must state in their application that the placer 
includes such vein or lode. The published and posted 
notices must also include such statement. If veins or 
lodes lying within a placer location are owned by other 
parties, the fact should be distinctly stated in the appli- 
cation for patent and in all the notices. But in all cases 
whether the lode is claimed or excluded, it must be sur- 
veyed and marked upon the plat ; the field notes and plat 
giving the area of the lode claim or claims and the area 
of the placer separately. It should be remembered that 
an application which omits to include an application for 
a known vein or lode therein, must be construed as 
a conclusive declaration that the applicant has no right 
of possession to the vein or lode. Where there is no 



156 ALASKA. 

known lode or vein, the fact must appear by the affidavit 
of two or more witnesses. 

59. By section 2330 it is declared that no location of 
a placer claim made after July 9, 1870, shall exceed one 
hundred and sixty acres for any one person or associa- 
tion of persons, which location shall conform to the Uni- 
ted States surveys. 

60. Section 2331 provides that all placer-mining 
claims located after May 10, 1872, shall conform as 
nearly as practicable with the United States systems of 
public surveys and the sub-divisions of such surveys, 
and no such locations shall include more than twenty 
acres for each individual claimant. 

61. The foregoing provisions of law are construed to 
mean that after the 9th day of July, 1870, no location of 
a placer claim can be made to exceed one hundred and 
sixty acres, whatever may be the number of locators, 
associated together, or whatever the local regulations of 
the district may allow ; and that from and after May 10, 
1872, no location made by an individual can exceed 
twenty acres, and no location made by an association of 
individuals can exceed one hundred and sixty acres, 
which location of one hundred and sixty acres can not 
be made by a less number than eight dona fide locators ; 
and no local laws or mining regulations can restrict 
a placer location to less than twenty acres, although the 
locator is not compelled to take so much. 

62. The regulations hereinbefore given as to the 
manner of marking locations on the ground and placing 
the same on record must be observed in the case of 
placer locations so far as the same are applicable, the 
law requiring, however, that where placer claims are 
upon surveyed public lands the locations must hereafter 
be made to conform to legal sub-divisions thereof as near 
as practicable. 

63. The first care in recognizing an application for 
patent upon a placer claim must be exercised in deter- 
mining the exact classification of the lands. To this 
end the clearest evidence of which the case is capable 
should be presented. 



ALASKA. 157 

(i) If the claim be all placer ground, that fact must 
be stated in the application and corroborated by ac- 
companying proofs; if of mixed placers and lodes it 
should be so set out, with a description of all known 
lodes situated within the boundaries of the claim. A 
specific declaration, such as is required by section 2333, 
Revised Statutes, must be furnished as to each lode 
intended to be claimed. All other known lodes are, by 
the silence of the applicant, excluded by law from all 
claim by him of whatsoever nature, possessory or other- 
wise. 

(2) Section 2395, Revised Statutes (sub-division 7), 
requires the surveyor to " note in his field books the true 
situation of all mines, salt licks, salt springs and mill 
seats which comes to his knowledge;" also "all water- 
courses over which the lines he runs may pass." It 
further requires him to "note the quality of the lands." 
These descriptive notes are required by sub-division 8 to 
be incorporated in :he plat by the surveyor-general. 

(3) If these duties have been performed, the public 
surveys will furnish a reasonable guide to the district 
officers and to claimants in prosecuting their applica- 
tions. But experience has shown that great neglect has 
resulted from inattention to the law in this respect, and 
the regular plats are of very little value in the matter. 
It will, therefore, be required in the future that deputy 
surveyors shall, at the expense of the parties, make full 
examination of all placer claims surveyed by them and 
duly note the facts as specified in the law, stating the 
quality and composition of the soil, the kind and amount 
of timber and other vegetation, the locus and size 
of streams and such other matters as may appear upon 
the surface of the claim. This examination should in- 
clude the character and extent of all surface and under- 
ground workings, whether placer or lode, for mining pur- 
poses. 

(4) In addition to these data, which the law requires 
to be shown in all cases, the deputy should report with 
reference to the proximity of centers of trade or resi- 
dence ; also of well-known systems of lode deposit or of 



15S ALASKA. 

individual lodes. He should also report as to the use or 
adaptability of the claim for placer mining ; whether 
water has been brought upon it in sufficient quantity to 
mine the same, or whether it can be procured for that 
purpose ; and, finally, what works or expenditures have 
been made by the claimant or his grantors for the de- 
velopment of the claim, and their situation and location 
with respect to the same as applied for. 

(5) This examination should be reported by the 
deputy under oath to the surveyor- general, and duly 
corroborated; and a copy of the same should be fur- 
nished with the application for patent to the claim, con- 
stituting a part thereof, and included in the oath of the 
applicant. 

(6) Applications awaiting entry, whether published 
or not, must be made to conform to these regulations, 
with respect to examination as to the character of the 
land. Entries already made will be suspended for such 
additional proofs as may be deemed necessary in each 
case. 

MIUrSlTES. 

64. Section 2337 provides that " where non-mineral 
land not contiguous to the vein or lode is used or occu- 
pied by the proprietor of such vein or lode for mining or 
milling purposes such non-adjacent surface ground may 
be embraced and included in an application for a patent 
for such vein or lode, and the same may be patented 
therewith, subject to the same preliminary requirements 
as to survey and notice as are applicable to veins or 
lodes; but no location hereafter made of such non- 
adjacent land shall exceed five acres, and payment for 
the same must be made at the same rate as fixed by this 
chapter for the superficies of the lode. The owner of a 
quartz-mill or reduction works, not owning a mine in con- 
nection therewith, may also receive a patent for his mill- 
site, as provided in this section." 

65. To avail themselves of this provision of law par- 
ties holding the possessory right to a vein or lode, and to 
a piece of non-mineral land not contiguous thereto, for 



ALASKA. 159 

mining or milling purposes, not exceeding the quantity 
allowed for such purpose by section 2337, United States 
Revised Statutes, or prior laws, under which the land 
was appropriated, the proprietors of such vein or lode 
may file in the proper land-office their application for a 
patent, under oath, in manner already set forth herein, 
which application, together with the plat and field-notes, 
may include, embrace and describe, in addition to the 
vein or lode, such non-contiguous mill-site, and after due 
proceedings as to notice, etc., a patent will be issued con- 
veying the same as one claim. 

66. In making the survey in a case of this kind the 
lode claim should be described in the plat and field-notes 
as " Sur. No. 37, A," and the mill-site as <c Sur. No. 37, 

No. 86 8 

B," or whatever may be its appropriate numerical desig- 
nation ; the course and distance from a corner of the 
mill-site to a corner of the lode claim to be invariably 
given in such plat and field-notes, and a copy of the plat 
and notice of application for patent must be con- 
spicuously posted upon the mill-site as well as upon the 
vein or lode for the statutory period of sixty days. In 
making the entry no separate receipt or certificate need 
be issued for the mill-site, but the whole area of both lode 
and mill-site will be embraced in one entry, the price be- 
ing five dollars for each acre and fractional part of an 
acre embraced by such lode and mill-site claim. 

67. In case the owner of a quartz mill or reduction- 
works is not the owner or claimant of a vein or lode, the 
law permits him to make application therefor in the 
same manner prescribed herein for mining claims, and 
after due notice and proceedings, in the absence of a 
valid adverse filing, to enter and receive a patent for his 
mill-site at said price per acre. 

68. In every case there must be satisfactory proof 
that the land claimed as a mill-site is not mineral in 
character, which proof may, where the matter is un- 
questioned, consist of the sworn statement of two or 
more persons capable from acquaintance with the land 
to testify understandingly. 



KJO ALASKA. 

POSSESSORY RIGHT. 

69. With regard to the proofs necessary to establish 
the possessory rights to a mining claim, section 2332 
provides that " where such person or association, they 
and their grantors, have held and worked their claims 
for a period equal to the time prescribed by the statute 
of limitations for mining claims of the State or Terri- 
tory where the same may be situated, evidence of such 
possession and working of the claims for such period 
shall be sufficient to establish a right to a patent thereto 
under this chapter, in the absence of any adverse 
claim." 

70. This provision of law will greatly lessen the 
burden of proof, more especially in the case of old claims 
located many years since, the records of which, in many 
cases, have been destroyed by fire, or lost in other ways, 
during the lapse of time, but concerning the possessory 
right to which all controversy or litigation has long been 
settled. 

71. When an applicant desires to make his proof of 
possessory right in accordance with this provision of 
law, he will not be required to produce evidence of loca- 
tion, copies of conveyances, or abstracts of title, as in 
other cases, but will be required to furnish a duly certi- 
fied copy of the statute of limitations of mining claims 
for the State or Territory, together with his sworn state- 
ment giving a clear and succinct narration of the facts 
as to the origin of his title, and likewise as to the con- 
tinuation of his possession of the mining ground covered 
by his application; the area thereof; the nature and ex- 
tent of the mining that has been done thereon; whether 
there has been any opposition to his possession, or litir 
gation with regard to his claim, and, if so, when the 
same ceased; whether such cessation was caused by com- 
promise or by judicial decree, and any additional facts 
within the claimant's knowledge having a direct bearing 
upon his possession and bona fides which he may desire 
to submit in support of his claim. 

72. There should likewise be filed a certificate, under 



ALASKA. 161 

seal of the court having jurisdiction of mining cases 
within the judicial district embracing the claim, that no 
suit or action of any character whatever involving the 
right of possession to any portion of the claim applied for 
is pending, and that there has been no litigation before 
said court affecting the title to said claim or any part 
thereof for a period equal to the time fixed by the statute 
of limitations for mining-claims in the State or Territory 
as aforesaid, other than that which has been finally 
decided in favor of the claimant. 

73. The claimant should support his narrative of 
facts relative to his possession, occupancy and improve- 
ments by corroborative testimony of any disinterested 
person or persons of credibility who may be cognizant 
of the facts in the case and are capable of testifying un- 
derstandingly in the premises. 

74. As a condition for the making of application for 
patent according to section 2325, there must be a pre- 
liminary showing of work or expenditure upon each lo- 
cation, either by showing the full amount sufficient to 
the maintenance of possession under section 2324 for the 
pending year; or, if there has been failure, it should be 
shown that work has been resumed so as to prevent re- 
location by adverse parties after abandonment. 

The "pending year" means the calendar year in 
which application is made, and has no reference to a 
showing of work at date of the final entry. 

75. This preliminary showing may, where the matter 
is unquestioned, consist of the affidavit of two or more 
witnesses familiar with the facts. 

PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP OF MINING CLAIMANTS. 

76. The proof necessary to establish the citizenship 
of applicants for mining patents must be made in the 
following manner: In case of an incorporated company, 
a certified copy of their charter or certificate of incorpo- 
ration must be filed. In case of an association of persons 
unincorporated, the affidavit of their duly authorized 
agent, made upon his own knowledge or upon informa- 



1(32 ALASKA. 

tion and belief, setting forth the residence of each per- 
son forming such association, must be submitted. This 
affidavit must be accompanied by a power of attorney 
from the parties forming such association, authorizing 
the person who makes the affidavit of citizenship to 
act for them in the matter of their application for 
patent. 

77. In case of an individual or an association of indi- 
viduals who do not appear by their duly authorized 
agent, showing whether he is a native or naturalized 
citizen, when and where born, and his residence. 

78. In case an applicant has declared his intention to 
become a citizen or has been naturalized, his affidavit 
must show the date, place, and the court before which 
he declared his intention, or from which his certificate 
of citizenship issued, and present residence. 

79. The affidavit of the claimant as to his citizenship 
may be taken before the register or receiver, or any 
other officer authorized to administer oaths within the 
land district; or, if the claimant is residing beyond the 
limits of the district, the affidavit may be taken before 
the clerk of any court of record or before any notary 
public of any State or Territory. 

80. If citizenship is established by the testimony of 
disinterested persons, such testimon}^ may be taken at 
any place before any person authorized to administer 
oaths, and whose official character is duly verified. 

ADVERSE CLAIMS. 

81. Section 2326 and the act of April 26, 1882, pro- 
vide for adverse claims, fix the time within which they 
shall be filed to have legal effect, and prescribe the man- 
ner of their adjustment, etc. 

82. An adverse mining claim must be filed with the 
register and receiver or the I^and Office where the appli- 
cation for patent was filed, or with the register and re- 
ceiver of the district in which the land is situated at the 
time of filing the adverse claim. It must be on the oath 
of the adverse claimant, or it may be verified by the oath 



ALASKA. 163 

of any duly authorized agent or attorney-in-fact of the 
adverse claimant, cognizant of the facts stated. 

83. Where an agent or attorney-in-fact verifies the 
adverse claim, he must distinctly swear that he is such 
agent or attorney, and accompany his affidavit by proof 
thereof. 

84. The agent or attorney-in-fact must make the affi- 
davit in verification of the adverse claim within the land 
district where the claim is situated. 

85. The adverse notice must fully set forth the na- 
ture and extent of the interference or conflict ; whether 
the adverse party claims as a purchaser for valuable con- 
sideration or as a locator ; if the former, a certified copy 
of the original location, the original conveyance, a duly 
certified copy thereof, or an abstract of title from the 
office of the proper recorder should be furnished, or if 
the transaction was a merely verbal one he will narrate 
the circumstances attending the purchase, the date 
thereof and the amount paid, which facts should be sup- 
ported by the affidavit uf one or more witnesses, if any 
were present at the time, and if he claims as a locator 
he must file a duly certified copy of the location from 
the office of the proper recorder. 

86. In order that the "boundaries" and "extent" of 
the claim may be shown, it will be incumbent upon the 
adverse claimant to file a plat showing his entire claim, 
its relative situation or position with the one against 
which he claims, and the extent of the conflict. This 
plat must be made from an actual survey by a United 
States deputy surveyor, who will officially certify thereon 
to its correctness; and in addition there must be at- 
tached to such plat of survey a certificate or sworn state- 
ment by the surveyor as to the approximate value of the 
labor performed or improvements made upon the claim 
by the adverse party or his predecessors in interest, and 
the plat must indicate the position of any shafts, tunnels 
or other improvements, if any such exist, upon the claim 
of the party opposing the application, and by which 
party said improvements were made : Provided, however, 
That, if the application for patent describes the claim 



164 ALASKA. 

by legal subdivisions, the adverse claimant, if also 
claiming by legal subdivisions, may describe his ad- 
verse claim in the same manner without further survey 
or plat. 

87. Upon the foregoing being filed within the sixty 
days as aforesaid, the register, or in his absence the re- 
ceiver, will give notice in writing to both parties to the 
contest that such adverse claim has been filed, informing 
them that the party who filed the adverse claim will be 
required within thirty days from the date of such filing 
to commence proceedings in a court of competent juris- 
diction to determine the question of right of possession, 
and to prosecute the same with reasonable diligence to 
final judgment, and that, should such adverse claimant 
fail to do so, his adverse claim will be considered waived 
and the application for patent be allowed to proceed 
upon its merits. 

88. When an adverse claim is filed as aforesaid, the 
register or receiver will indorse upon the same the pre- 
cise date of filing, and preserve a record of the date of 
notifications issued thereon ; and thereafter all proceed- 
ings on the application for patent will be suspended, 
with the exception of the completion of the publication 
and posting of notices and plat, and the filing of the 
necessary proof thereof, until the controversy shall have 
been adjudicated in court, or the adverse claim waived or 
withdrawn. 

89. Where an adverse claim has been filed and suit 
thereon commenced within the statutory period and final 
judgment determining the right of possession rendered 
in favor of the applicant, it will not be sufficient for him 
to file with the register a certificate of the clerk of the 
court, setting forth the facts as to such judgment, but he 
must, before he is allowed to make entry, file a certified 
copy of the judgment, together with the other evidence 
required by section 2326, Revised Statutes. 

90. Where such suit has been dismissed a certificate 
of the clerk of the court to that effect or a certified copy 
of the order of dismissal will be sufficient. 

91. In no case will a relinquishment of the ground in 



ALASKA. 165 

controversy, or other proof, filed with the register or re- 
ceiver be accepted in lieu of the evidence required. 

92. Where an adverse claim has been filed, but no suit 
commenced against the applicant for patent within the 
statutory period, a certificate to that effect by the clerk 
of the State court having jurisdiction in the case, 
and also by the clerk of the circuit court of the Uni- 
ted States for the district in which the claim is situated, 
will be required. 

93. A party who is not an applicant for patent under 
section 2325, Revised Statutes, or the assignee of such 
applicant, is not entitled to make entry under said 
section, and in no case will the name of such party be in- 
serted in the certificate of entry. This regulation has no 
reference to proceedings under section 2326. 

94. Any party applying to make entry as trustee must 
disclose fully the nature of the trust and the name of the 
cestui que trust; and such trustee, as well as the 
beneficiaries, must furnish satisfactory proof . of citizen- 
ship; and the names of beneficiaries, as well as that 
of the trustee, must be inserted in the final certificate of 
entry. 

95. No entry will be allowed until the register has 
satisfied himself, by a careful examination, that proper 
proofs have been filed upon all the points indicated 
in official regulations in force, and that they show a 
sufficient bona fide compliance with the laws and such 
regulations. 

96. The administration of the mining laws as pre- 
scribed by these regulations will be, so far as applicable, 
adopted for and extended to Alaska. 

(1) The ex officio register, receiver and surveyor- 
general, while acting as such, and their clerks and 
deputy surveyors, will be deemed subject to the laws and 
regulations governing the official conduct and responsi- 
bilities of similar officers and persons under general 
statutes of the United States. 

(2) The Commissioner of the General Land Office 
will exercise the same general supervision over the exe- 
cution of the laws as are or may be exercised by him in 
other mineral districts. 



166 ALASKA. 

APPOINTMENT OF DEPUTY SURVEYORS OF MINING 
CLAIMS— CHARGES FOR SURVEYS AND PUB- 
LICATIONS — FEES OF REGISTERS 
AND RECEIVERS, ETC. 

97. Section 2334 provides for the appointment of sur- 
veyors of mineral claims, authorizes the Commissioners 
of the General Land Office to establish the rates to be 
charged for surveys and for newspaper publications. 

Under this authority of law the following rates have 
been established as the maximum charges for newspaper 
publications in mining cases : 

(1) Where a daily newspaper is designated, the 
charge shall not exceed seven dollars for each ten lines 
of space occupied, and where a weekly newspaper is 
designated as the medium of publication five dollars for 
the same space will be allowed. Such charge shall be 
accepted as full payment for publication in eachissue of 
the newspaper for the entire period required by law. 

It is expected that these notices shall not be so 
abbreviated as to curtail the description essential to a 
perfect notice, and the said rates established upon 
the understanding that they are to be in the usual body- 
type used for advertisements. 

(2) For the publication of citations in contests or 
hearings involving the character of lands, the charges 
shall not exceed eight dollars for five publications in 
weekly newspapers, or ten dollars for publications in 
daily newspapers for thirty days. 

98. The surveyors-general of the several districts will, 
in pursuance of said law, appoint in each land district as 
many competent deputies for the survey of mining claims 
as may seek such appointment ; it being distinctly under- 
stood that all expenses of these notices and surveys are 
to be borne by the mining claimants and not by the Uni- 
ted States ; the system of making deposits for mineral sur- 
veys, as required by previous instructions, being hereby 
revoked as regards field work; the claimant having the 
option of employing any deputy surveyor within such 
district to do his work in the field. 



ALASKA. 167 

99. With regard to the platting of the claim and 
other office work in the surveyor-general's office, that 
officer will make an estimate of the cost thereof, which 
amount the claimant will deposit with any assistant Uni- 
ted States Treasurer, or designated depository in favor 
of the United States Treasurer,to be passed to the credit 
of the fund created by " individual depositors for surveys 
of the public lands," and file with the surveyor-general 
duplicate certificates of such deposit in the usual manner. 

100. The surveyors-general will endeavor to appoint 
mineral deputy surveyors, so that one or more may be lo- 
cated in each mining district for the greater convenience 
of miners. 

1 01. The usual oaths will be required of these depu- 
ties and their assistants as to the correctness of each sur- 
vey executed by them. 

The duty of the deputy mineral surveyor ceases when 
he has executed the survey and returned the field notes 
and preliminary plat thereof with his report to the sur- 
veyor-general. He will not be allowed to prepare for the 
mining claimant the papers in support of an application 
for patent, or otherwise perform the duties of an attorney 
before the land office in connection with a mining claim. 

The surveyor-general and local land officers are 
expected to report any infringement of this regulation to 
this office. 

102. The law requires that each applicant shall file 
with the register and receiver a sworn statement of all 
charges and fees paid by him for publication of notice 
and for survey, together with all fees and money paid the 
register and receiver, which sworn statement is required 
to be transmitted to this office for the information of the 
Commissioner. 

103. Should it appear that excessive or exorbitant 
charges have been made by any surveyor or any 
publisher, prompt action will be taken with the view of 
correcting the abuse. 

104. The fees payable to the register and receiver for 
filing and acting upon applications for mineral-land 
patents are five dollars to each officer, to be paid by the 



16S ALASKA. 

applicant for patent at the time of filing, and the like 
sum of five dollars is payable to each officer by an ad- 
verse claimant at the time of filing his adverse claim. 
(Sec. 2238, R. S., paragraph 9.) 

105. All fees or charges under this law may be paid 
in United States currency. 

106. The register and receiver will, at the close of 
each month, forward to this office an abstract of mining 
applications filed, and a register of receipts, accompanied 
with an abstract of mineral lands sold and an abstract of 
adverse claims filed. 

107. The fees and purchase money received by 
registers and receivers must be placed to the credit of 
the United States in the receiver's monthly and quar- 
terly account, charging up in the disbursement account 
the sums to which the register and receiver may be re- 
spectively entitled as fees and commissions, with limita- 
tions in regard to the legal maximum. 

PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE REGISTER AND RECEIVER 

AND SURVEYOR-GENERAE IN CONTESTS AND 

HEARINGS TO ESTABLISH THE 

CHARACTER OF EANDS. 

108. The " Rules of Practice in cases before the Uni- 
ted States district land offices, the General Land Office, 
and the Department of the Interior," approved August 
13, 1S85, will, as far as applicable, govern in all cases 
and proceedings arising in contests and hearings to de- 
termine the mineral or non-mineral character of lands. 

109. The only tracts of public land that will be with- 
held from entry as agricultural land on account of its 
mineral character will be such as are returned by the 
surveyor-general as mineral ; and even the presumption 
which is supported by such return may be overcome by 
testimony taken at a regular hearing. 

no. Hearings to determine the character of land, as 
practically distinguished, are of two kinds : 

(1) Where lands which are sought to be entered and 
patented as agricultural are alleged by affidavit to be 



ALASKA. 169 

mineral, or when sought as mineral, their non-mineral 
character is alleged. 

The proceedings relative to this class are in the na- 
ture of a contest between two or more known parties. 

(2) When lands are returned as mineral by the sur- 
veyor-general. 

When such lands are sought to be entered as agri- 
cultural notice must be given by publication for thirty 
days with posting in the local office for the same period. 

in. At the hearings under either of the aforesaid 
classes the claimants and witnesses will be thoroughly 
examined with regard to the character of the land ; 
whether the same has been thoroughly prospected ; 
whether or not there exists within the tract or tracts 
claimed any lode or vein of quartz or other rock in 
place, bearing gold, silver, cinnabar, lead, tin or copper, 
or other valuable deposit which has ever been claimed, 
located, recorded or worked ; whether such work is 
entirely abandoned or whether occasionally resumed ; 
if such lode does exist, by whom claimed, under what 
designation and in which sub-division of the land it lies ; 
whether any placer mine or mines exist upon the land ; 
if so, what is the character thereof— whether of the shal- 
low-surface description or of the deep cement, blue lead 
or gravel deposits ; to what extent mining is carried on 
when water can be obtained and what the facilities 
are for obtaining water for mining purposes ; upon what 
particular ten-acre sub-divisions mining has been done, 
and at what time the land was abandoned for mining pur- 
poses, if abandoned at all. 

112. The testimony should also show the agricultural 
capacities of the land, what kind of crops are raided 
thereon and the value thereof; the number of acrs 
actually cultivated for crops of cereals or vegetables and 
within which particular ten-acre sub-division such crops 
are raised ; also which of these sub-divisions embrace the 
improvements, giving in detail the extent and value of 
the improvements, such as house, barn, vineyard, orchard, 
fencing, etc., and mining improvements. 

113. The testimony should be as full and complete as 

12 



170 ALASKA. 

possible ; and in addition to the leading points indicated 
above, where an attempt is made to prove the mineral 
character of lands which have been entered under 
the agricultural laws, it should show at what date, if at 
all, valuable deposits of mineral were first known to exist 
on the lands. 

114. When the case comes before this office such de- 
cision will be made as the law and the facts may justify; 
and in cases where a survey is necessary to set apart the 
mineral from the agricultural land, the necessary in- 
structions will be given to enable the proper party at his 
own expense, to have the work done, at his option, either 
by United States deputy, county or other local surveyor ; 
the survey in such case, where the claims to be segre- 
gated are vein or lode claims, must be executed in such 
manner as will conform to the requirements in section 
2320, U. S. Revised Statutes, as to length and width and 
parallel end lines. 

115. Such survey when executed must be properly 
sworn to by the surveyor, either before a notary public, 
officer of a court of record, or before the register or re- 
ceiver, the deponent's character and credibility to be 
properly certified to by the officer administering the 
oath. 

116. Upon the filing of the plat and field notes of 
such survey, duly sworn to as aforesaid, you will trans- 
mit the same to the surveyor-general for his verification 
and approval; who, if he finds the work correctly per- 
formed, will properly mark out the same upon the orig- 
inal township plat in his office, and furnish authenticated 
copies of such plat and description both to the proper 
local land office and to this office, to be affixed to the 
duplicate and triplicate township plats respectively. 

117. With the copy of plat and description furnished 
the local office and this office, must be a diagram tracing, 
verified by the surveyor-general, showing the claim or 
claims segregated, and designating the separate frac- 
tional agricultural tracts in each 40-acre legal subdivision 
by the proper lot number, beginning with No. 1 in each 
section, and giving the area in each lot, the same as pro- 



ALASKA. 171 

vided in paragraph 45, in the survey of mining claims 
on surveyed lands. 

118 The fact that a certain tract of land is decided 
upon testimony to be mineral in character is by no 
means equivalent to an award of the land to a miner. A 
miner is compelled by law to give sixty days' publication 
of notice, and posting of diagrams and notices, as a pre- 
liminary step; and then, before he can enter the land, he 
must show that the land yields mineral; that he is en- 
titled to the possessory right thereto in virtue of com- 
pliance with local customs or rules of miners, or by vir- 
tue of the statute of limitations; that he or his grantors 
have expended, in actual labor and improvements, an 
amount of not less than five hundred dollars thereon, 
and that the claim is one in regard to which there is no 
controversy or opposing claim.' After all these proofs 
are met, he is entitled to have a survey made at his own 
cost where a survey is required, after which he can enter 
and pay for the land embraced by his claim.. 

119. Blank forms for proofs in mineral cases are not 
furnished by the General Land Office. 

Thomas H. Carter, 

Commissioner. 
Approved December 10, 1891. 

John W. Noble, 

Secretary. 

DREDGE-BOAT MINING. 

Several movements have been inaugurated with the 
view to extracting minerals from the beds of rivers or 
river bars in Alaska, but the consent of the Government 
has in no instance been given, and the mineral laws of 
the United States do not warrant the employment of the 
methods proposed. Upon this subject Honorable Binger 
Hermann, Commissioner of the General Land Office, in 
a communication dated January 3, 1898, and addressed 
to The Honorable, the Secretary of the Interior, said: 



172 ALASKA. 

"I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a 
letter relative to the right to extract mineral from the 
beds of rivers or from river bars, in Alaska. 

" Mr. states, in substance, that he is interested 

in a company which has made investments with a view 
to operating vessels on those rivers of Alaska where gold 
is presumably to be found ; that the company contem- 
plates the use of pumps or other methods suitable to the 
extraction of the metal from the beds of streams or bars 
therein, and asks if such operations would be legal. 

"It is to be reminded that, as no specific case is now 
before me for decision, anything that may be here said 
upon the subject can amount only to an expression of 
opinion. 

" The operations of the mineral land laws, section 
2318 et seq., U. S. Revised Statutes, and acts supple- 
mental thereto or amendatory thereto, were extended to 
Alaska by the act of May 17, 1884 (23 Stats. 24). 

"It is contemplated by the law that persons desirous 
of taking minerals from the public domain shall locate 
a claim, the boundaries of which must be plainly marked 
upon the ground. The claim, as the term is used in the 
statutes, is something tangible, a particular portion of 
the earth's surface susceptible of identification, and, in 
my opinion, there is no legal warrant for the extraction 
of mineral from the public domain except the mining be 
done within the limits of such a claim as contemplated 
by law, the possessory title to which may ripen into a 
complete legal title by the issuance of a United States 
patent. 

" Further, the question might arise whether or not 

such operations as are described by Mr. would 

not render the company or its members liable to the 
penalty prescribed by section 10 of chapter 907 (p. 802) 
U. S Supplemental Revised Statutes, and attention is re- 
spectfully directed to said section and to section 6 of said 
chapter (p. 801)." 



ALASKA. 173 

Department of the Interior, 

General Land Office, 
Washington, D. C, October 12, 1892. 
Registers and Receivers, United States Land Offices : 

Gentlemen: Attached is a copy of the act of Con- 
gress of August 4, 1892, entitled, "An act to authorize 
the entry of lands chiefly valuable for building-stone un- 
der the placer mining laws." 

The first section of said act extends the mineral land 
laws already existing so as to bring land chiefly valua- 
ble for building-stone within the provisions of said law 
to the extent of authorizing a placer entry of such land. 
The proviso to said first section excludes lands reserved 
for the benefit of the public schools or donated to any 
State from entry under the act. 

In cases that may arise hereafter in reference to any 
lands subject to entry under the mining laws, you will 
be governed by said act in admitting such entries. The 
proper instructions for your guidance in so doing may be 
found in official circular of December 10 1891, entitled 
"United States Mining Laws and Regulations There- 
under," to which you are referred, and your special at- 
tention is called to the law and instructions therein re- 
lating to placer claims. 

It is not the understanding of this office that the first 
section of said act of August 4, 1892, withdraws land 
chiefly valuable for building-stone from entry under any 
existing law applicable thereto. 

The second section of said act of August 4, 1892, 
makes the timber and stone act of June 3, 1878 (20 Stat., 
89), applicable to all the public-land States. You will 
observe the same in acting upon applications for entries 
in your respective districts. For instructions you are 
referred to the general circular of February 6, 1892, 
pages 35 to 38 inclusive. 

In allowing placer entries for stone chiefly valuable 
for building purposes, under the first section of the act 



174 ALASKA. 

of August 4, 1892, you will make a reference to said act 
on the entry papers returned. 

Very Respectfully, 

W. M. Stone, 

Acting Commissio?ier. 

Approved October 12, 1892. 

Geo. Chandler, 

Acting Secretary. 



AN ACT to authorize the entry of lands chiefly valuable for 
building stone under the placer mining laws. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives of the United States of America in Congress as- 
sembled, That any person authorized to enter lands un- 
der the mining laws of the United States may enter 
lands that are chiefly valuable for building stone under 
the provisions of the law in relation to placer mineral 
claims : Provided, That lands reserved for the benefit of 
the public schools or donated to any State shall not be 
subject to entry under this act. 

Sec. 2. That an act entitled "An act for the sale of 
timber lands in the States of California, Oregon, Nevada 
and Washington Territory," approved June third, eight- 
een hundred and seventy-eight, be, and the same is here- 
by, amended by striking out out the words " States of 
California, Oregon, Nevada and Washington Territory" 
where the same occur in the second and third lines of 
said act, and insert in lieu thereof the words, " public- 
land States," the purpose of this act being to make said 
act of June third, eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, 
applicable to all the public-land States. 

Sec. 3. That nothing in this act shall be construed 
to repeal section twenty-four of the act entitled "An act 
to repeal timber-culture laws, and for other purposes," 



ALASKA. 175 

approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety- 
one. 

Approved August 4, 1892. 



A. Department of the Interior, 

General Land Office, 

Washington, D. C, October 24, 1892. 

Registers and Receivers, United States Layid Offices: 

Gentlemen : In addition to instructions contained 
in general circular of February 6, 1892, pages 35 to 38, 
inclusive, and pages 147 and 148, in relation to the tim- 
ber and stone act of June 3, 1878, extended by the act 
of August 4, 1892, referred to in circular A of October 
12, 1892, you are advised as follows: 

1. That entries made under section one of said act 
are required to be kept and reported in consecutive and 
numerical order in your mineral land series.' 

2. That entries made under section two of said act 
are required to be kept and reported in consecutive 
numerical order in your regular agricultural cash series. 

Necessary additional blank forms for entries under 
said act are as follows : 

Form Nos. 4—3575 4"" 3 6 3; 4~ 37°; 4— 37*5 4~ 537! 
4—658 c. 

Very respectfully, 

W. M. Stone, 

Actmg Commissioner. 



17(5 ALASKA. 



APPENDIX B. 



DIGEST OF CANADIAN MINING LAWS. 



The regulations governing placer mining along the 
Yukon River and its tributaries in the Northwest Terri- 
tory, adopted by the Canadian Government, are as fol- 
lows: 

DEFINITIONS. 

Bar Diggings shall mean any part of a river over 
which the water extends when the water is in its flooded 
state, and which is not covered at low water. 

Mines on Be?iches shall be kcown as bench diggings, 
and shall, for the purpose of defining the size of such 
claims, be excepted from dry diggings. 

Dry Diggings shall mean any mine over which a 
river never extends. 

Miner shall mean a male or female over the age of 
1 8, but not under that age. 

Claims shall mean the personal right of property in a 
placer mine or diggings during the time for which the 
grant of such mine or diggings is made. 

Legal Post shall mean a stake standing not less than 
four feet above the ground and squared on four sides for 
at least one foot from the top. Both sides so squared 
shall measure at least four inches across the face. It 
shall also mean any stump or tree cut off and squared or 
faced to the above height and size. 

Close Season shall mean the period of the year during 
which placer mining is generally suspended. The period 
to be fixed by the gold commissioner in whose district 
the claim is situated. 

Locality shall mean the territory along a river (tribu- 
tary of the Yukon) and its affluents. 



ALASKA. 177 

Mineral shall include all minerals whatsoever other 
than coal. 

NATURE AND SIZK OF CLAIMS. 

t. Bar Diggings. — A strip of land ioo feet wide at 
high-water mark and thence extending along into the 
river to its lowest water-level. 

2. The sides of a claim for bar-diggings shall be two 
parallel lines run as nearly as possible at right angles to 
the stream, and shall be marked by four legal posts, one 
at each end of the claim, at or about high-water mark; 
also one at each end of the claim at or about the edge of 
the water. One of the posts at high water mark shall be 
legibly marked with the name of the miner and the date 
upon which the claim is staked. 

3. Dry diggings shall be 100 feet square, and shall 
have placed at each of its four corners a legal post, upon 
one of which shall be legibly marked the name of the 
miner and the date upon which the claim was staked. 

4. Creek and river claims shall be 500 feet long, 
measured in direction of the general course of the 
stream, and shall extend in width from base to base of 
the hill or bench on each side, but when the hill or 
benches are less than 100 feet apart, the claim may be 
100 feet in depth. The sides of a claim shall be two 
parallel lines run as nearly as possible at right angles to 
the stream. The sides shall be marked with legal posts 
at or about the edge of the water and at the rear bound- 
aries of the claim. One of the legal posts at the stream 
shall be legibly marked with the name of the miner and 
the date upon which the claim was staked. 

5. Bench claims shall be 100 feet square. 

6. In defining the size of claims, they shall be meas- 
ured horizontally, irrespective of inequalities on the sur- 
face of the ground. 



Note. — The regulation relating to the length of a claim was 
amended August 8th by the Dominion Government; the new 
regulation limits the length of a claim to 100 feet, running along 
the stream. 



178 ALASKA. 

;. If any person or persons shall discover a new 
mine, and such discovery shall be established to the sat- 
isfaction of the gold commissioner, a claim for the bar 
diggings 750 feet in length may be granted. 

A new stratum of auriferous earth or gravel situated 
in a locality where the claims are abandoned shall, for 
this purpose, be deemed a new mine, although the same 
locality shall have previously been worked at a different 
level. 

8. The forms of application for a grant for placer 
mining and the grant of the same shall be those con- 
tained in forms "H" and "I" in the schedule hereto. 

9. A claim shall be recorded with the gold commis- 
sioner in whose district it is situated within three days 
after the location thereof, if it is located within ten miles 
of the commissioner's office. One extra day shall be al- 
lowed for making such record for every additional ten 
miles and fraction thereof. 

10. In the event of the absence of the gold commis- 
sioner from his office, entry for a claim may be granted 
by any person whom he may appoint to perform his du- 
ties in his absence. 

11. Entry shall not be granted for a claim which has 
not been staked by the applicant in person, in the man- 
ner specified in these regulations. An affidavit that the 
claim was staked out by the applicant shall be embodied 
in form "H" of the schedule hereto. 

12. An entry fee of $15 shall be charged the first 
year and an annual fee of $100 for each of the follow- 
ing years. This provision shall apply to the locations 
for which entries have already been granted. 

13. After the recording of a claim, the removal of 
any post by the holder thereof, or any person acting in 
his behalf, for the purpose of changing the boundaries 
of his claim, shall act as a forfeiture of the claim. 

14. The entry of every holder for a grant for placer 
mining must be renewed and his receipt relinquished 
and replaced every year, the entry fee being paid each 
year. 

15. No miner shall receive a grant for more than one 



ALASKA. 179 

mining claim in the same locality; but the same miner 
may hold any number of claims by purchase, and any 
number of miners may unite to work their claims in 
common upon such terms as they may arrange, provided 
such agreement be registered with the gold commis- 
sioner and a fee of $5 paid for each registration. 

16. Any miner or miners may sell, mortgage or dis- 
pose of his or their claims, provided such disposal be 
registered with, and a fee of $2 paid to the gold commis- 
sioner, who shall thereupon give the assignee a certifi- 
cate in form "J" in the schedule hereto. 

17. Every miner shall, during the continuance of his 
grant, have the exclusive right of entry upon his own 
claim for the miner-like working thereof, and the con- 
struction of a residence thereon, and shall be entitled ex- 
clusively to all the proceeds realized therefrom; but he 
shall have no surface rights therein, and the gold com- 
missioner may grant to the holders of adjacent claims 
such rights of entry thereon as may be absolutely neces- 
sary for the working of their claims, upon such terms as 
may to him seem reasonable. He may also grant per- 
mits to miners to cut timber thereon for their own use 
upon payment of the dues prescribed by the regulations 
in that behalf. 

18. Every miner shall be entitled to the use of so 
much of the water naturally flowing through or past his 
claim, and not already lawfully appropriated, as shall in 
the opinion of the gold commissioner be necessary for 
the due working thereof, and shall be entitled to drain 
his own claim free of charge. 

19. A claim shall be deemed to be abandoned and 
open to occupation and entry by any person when the 
same shall have remained unworked on working days by 
the grantee thereof, or by some person on his behalf, for 
the space of seventy-two hours, unless sickness or other 
reasonable cause may be shown to the satisfaction of the 
gold commissioner, or unless the grantee is absent on 
leave given by the commissioner, and the gold commis- 
sioner, upon obtaining evidence satisfactory to himself 



ISO ALASKA. 

that this provision is not being complied with, may 
cancel the entry given for a claim. 

20. If the land upon which a claim has been located 
is not the property of the crown, it will be necessary for 
the person who applies for entry to furnish proof that 
he has acquired from the owner of the land the surface 
right before entry can be granted. 

21. If the occupier of the lands has not received a 
patent therefor, the purchase money of the surface rights 
must be paid to the crown, and a patent of the surface 
rights will issue to the party who acquired the mining 
rights. The money so collected will either be refunded 
to the occupier of the land when he is entitled to a pat- 
ent therefor, or will be credited to him on account of 
payment for land. 

22. When the party obtaining the mining rights can 
not make an arrangement with the owner thereof for the 
acquisition of the surface rights, it shall be lawful for 
him to give notice to the owner, or his agent, or the oc- 
cupier to appoint an arbitrator to act with another arbi- 
trator named by him, in order to award the amount of 
compensation to which the owner or occupant shall be 
entitled. The notice mentioned in this section shall be 
according to form, to be obtained upon application from 
the gold commissioner for the district in which the lands 
in question lie, and shall, when practicable, be personally 
served on such owner or his agent, if known, or occu- 
pant, and after reasonable efforts have been made to ef- 
fect personal service without success, then such notice 
shall be served upon the owner or agent within a period 
to be fixed by the gold commissioner before the expira- 
tion of the time limited in such notice. If the proprie- 
tor refuses or declines to appoint an arbitrator, or when, 
for any other reason, no arbitrator is appointed by the 
proprietor in the time limited therefor in the notice pro- 
vided by this section, the gold commissioner for the dis- 
trict in which the lands in question lie shall, on being sat- 
isfied by affidavit that such notice has come to the knowl- 
edge of such owner, agent, or occupant, or that such 
owner, agent, or occupant, wilfully evades the service 



ALASKA. 181 

of such notice, or cannot be found, and that reasonable 
efforts have been made to effect such service, and that the 
notice was left at the last place of abode of such owner, 
agent or occupant, appoint an arbitrator on his behalf. 

23. (a) All arbitrators appointed under the authority 
of these regulations shall be sworn before a justice of 
the peace to the impartial discharge of the duties as- 
signed to them, and the}' shall forthwith proceed to esti- 
mate the reasonable damages which the owner or occu- 
pant of such lands, according to their several interests 
therein, shall sustain by reason of such prospecting and 
mining operations. 

(b) In estimating such damages the arbitrators shall 
determine the value of the land, irrespectively of any 
enhancement thereof from the existence of mineral 
therein. 

(c) In case such arbitrators cannot agree, they may 
select a third arbitrator, and when the two arbitrators 
cannot agree upon a third arbitrator, the gold commis- 
sioner for the district in which the lands in question lie 
shall select such third arbitrator. 

(d) The award of any two such arbitrators made in 
writing shall be final, and shall be filed with the gold 
commissioner for the district in which the lands lie. 

If any cases arise for which no provision is made in 
these regulations, the provisions of the regulations gov- 
erning the disposal of mineral lands other than coal lands 
approved by his excellency the governor in council on 
on the 9th of November, 1889, shall apply. 



APPLICATION FOR GRANT FOR PLACER MINING CLAIM 
AND AFFIDAVIT OF APPLICANT. 



Form "H." 

I (or we), of , hereby apply under the 

Dominion Mining Regulations for grant of a claim for 
placer mining as defined in the said regulations in 



182 ALASKA. 

(here describe locality), and I (or we) solemnly 

swear : 

First. That I (or we) am (or are) to the best of my 
(or our) knowledge and belief, the first discoverer (or 
discoverers) of the said deposit, or 

Second. That the said claim was previously granted 
to (here name the last grantee), but has re- 
mained unworked by the said grantee for not less than 



Third. That I (or we) am (or are) unaware that the 
land is other than vacant Dominion lands. 

Fourth. That I (or we) did on the day of 

mark out on the ground in accordance in 

every particular with the provisions of the mining regu- 
lations for the Yukon River and its tributaries, the claim 
for which I (or we) make this application, and that in so 
doing I (or we) did not encroach on any other claim or 
mining location previously laid out by any other 
person. 

Fifth. That the said claim contains, as nearly as I 

(or we) could measure or estimate, an area of 

square feet, and that the description (and sketch, if any) 
of this date hereto attached signed by me (or us) sets 
(or set) forth in detail to the best of my (or our) knowl- 
edge and ability its position, form and dimensions. 

Sixth. That I (or we) make this application in good 
faith to acquire the claim for the sole purpose of mining, 
prosecuted by myself (or us), or by myself and associates, 
or by my (or our) assigns. 

Sworn before me 



At , this day of 

18 

(Signature) 



ALASKA. 183 

GRANT FOR PLACER CLAIM. 

Form " I." 

Department of the Interior, 
Agency , 1 8 . . . . 

In consideration of the payment of the fee prescribed 
by clause 12 of the mining regulations of the Yukon 
River and its tributaries by (A. B.) accom- 
panying his (or their) application No , dated 

, 18 .... , for a mining claim in 

(here insert description of localit}'), the minister of the 

interior hereby grants to the said (A. B.) 

for the term of one year from the date hereof the exclu- 
sive right of entry upon the claim (here describe in de- 
tail the claim). 

Granted. — For the miner-like working thereof and 
the construction of a residence thereon, and the exclu- 
sive right to all the proceeds derived therefrom. That 

the said (A. B.) shall be entitled to the use 

of so much water naturally flowing through or past his 
(or their) claim, and not already lawfully appropriated, 
as shall be necessary for the due working thereof, and to 
drain his (or their) claim free of charge. 

This grant does not convey to the said 

(A. B.) any surface right in the said claim or any right of 
ownership in the soil covered by the said claim, and the 
said grant shall lapse and be forfeited unless the claim is 
continuously and in good faith worked by the said 
.... (A. B.) or his (or their) associates. 

The rights hereby granted are those laid down in the 
aforesaid mining regulations and no more, and are sub- 
ject to all the provisions of the said regulations, whether 
the same are expressed herein or not. 



Gold Commissioner. 
{" Klondike,"— Chicago Record.) 



184 ALASKA. 



APPENDIX C 



GLOSSARY OF MINING TERMS MOST 
FREQUENTLY USED. 



Amalgam : In some ore the gold is so fine and scarce 
that it must be dissolved in mercury in order to 
save it ; such mixture of mercury (quicksilver) and 
gold is called amalgam. 

Burn: To burn a lay is to thaw out a hole in the 
ground by building a fire over it. 

Claim : The territory one man is allowed by law or lo- 
cal, common consent to stake out for himself. The 
size differs and is fixed by agreement among the 
miners in any particular locality. It is a section of 
a creek of a certain length — sometimes 200 feet, ex- 
tending from rim to rim in width. The reason of 
this variableness in the size of claims on dif- 
ferent creeks is that on some greater length is 
required to make it w T orth a man's while to work 
them. The pay deposits may be scattered so that a 
man could make wages only by working here and 
there over a large territory. Of course, the con- 
ditions surrounding the first discovery on a creek 
are the basis for fixing the size of a claim on 
that stream. The discoverer of a new field is 
allowed two claims, while others are permitted 
to take but one at a time. However, when a lo- 
cator has worked out his assessment of a few days' 
work, he is at liberty to take another. When a suf- 
ficient number of men arrive on a new creek to 
make it impracticable to work together in harmony, 
it is customary to hold a meeting and elect one 




i 



.*j. 



SOUTHERN WATER FRONT, JUNEAU. 



ALASKA. 185 

of cheir number as register or clerk, and thereafter 
a t -cord is made of all locations and all transfers, for 
wnich a small fee is usually charged. 

Color. When "dirt" is very carefully washed and the 
«• Hilt at the bottom of the pan is the merest speck 
oi the metal it is said to show " color." 

Cradle: See " Rocker." 

Dirt : Earth in which valuable minerals, especially 
gold, is expected. 

Disco ery : The point where gold is first found in any 
territory is called " Discovery Claim," and the other 
claims are numbered i, 2, 3, etc., in both directions 
from discovery claim. 

Drift: A horizontal opening in the side of a hill, creek 
bank, or leading from a shaft. 

Dust : Gold in the form it is taken from placer mines. 
Particles about the size of a pea and larger are 
called nuggets. 

Float : Pieces of rock, quartz or ore detached from the 
main vein, ledge, lode or deposit of like material. 

Fool's Gold : Iron pyrites; so named from its resem- 
blance to the precious metal — pyrites will crush 
under the hammer, while gold flattens. 

Grindstone : Three poles, each about 8 feet in length, 
used to support a stove on the snow. 

Grub Stake : It frequently happens that a person de- 
sirous of sharing the wealth of an unexplored 
country is not in a position to visit it in person and 
elects to buy an outfit of tools, clothing and food for 
some prospector, whom he sends into the country 
with the understanding that they become equal part- 
ners. Such a transaction is called grub-staking. 

13 



186 ALASKA. 

Hungry Ore: Worthless rock which from its appear- 
ance leads to the belief that it contains gold or other 
valuable mineral. 

Lay : The privilege of working another man's claim. 

Pan : A gold digger's pan resembles an ordinary frying 
pan without the handle. It is usually about a foot 
in diameter at the bottom, with flaring sides four or 
five inches deep. It is made of any suitable ma- 
terial, profusely pressed steel or copper. 

Pay Dirt: If a pan of dirt will yield 10 cents worth of 
gold it is called pay-dirt. If it yields 15 cents worth 
it is promising dirt, and 20 cents makes it rich. It 
is said that some pans in the Klondike run as high 
as $1,000, and many claims are saidto average from 
$75 to $200 to the pan. 

Placer Gold Mines : Mines where the gold is found in 
the pure state in the form of nuggets or grains, and 
can be separated by the simple process of washing 
in water. The Supreme Court of the United States 
has defined a placer claim in the following language: 
"Ground within defined boundaries which contains 
mineral in its earth, sand or gravel ; ground that in- 
cludes valuable deposits in any place, that is not 
fixed in rock, but which are in a loose state and may 
in most cases be collected by washing or amalgama- 
tion without milling." 

Prospector: From a mining standpoint is one who 
makes a business of searching for deposits of 
precious metals or other minerals of recognized 
value. 

Quartz Gold Mines : Mines where the gold is embedded 
or fixed in quartz rock, which requires heavy ma- 
chinery to crush before the metal can be extracted. 

Rifile: See " Sluice box." 



ALASKA. 1 87 

Rocker or Cradle : A box with rockers, something after 
the fashion of a baby's cradle, in which the pay 
gravel is placed and then rocked while water is pour- 
ing through. 

Shaft : A vertical hole sunk in the ground like a well. 

Sluice Box or Riffle : A long narrow trough of plank- 
ing with slats or riffles across the bottom. The box 
is built on an incline, and as water and gravel are 
washed down the gold is caught by the riffles ; some- 
times mercury is used in connection with this ap- 
pliance. 

Tailings: The gold-laden sands, etc., which escape 
from the pan or other washing apparatus in placer 
mining. There are Chinamen and others still mak- 
ing good wages working tailings of the early Cali- 
fornia placer mines. 

Tenderfoot : A person unacquainted with the ways of 
frontier life, or mining camps ; a greenhorn. 

Whim : A vein or lode which ;does not meet expecta- 
tions. 



WORDS COMMONLY USED IN ALASKA AND 

FOR WHICH THERE ARE NO ENGLISH 

EQUIVALENTS.— (PETROFF.) 

Barabara : A term of Siberian origin for a semi-subter- 
ranean hut or dwelling. 

Beluga : The white grampus or white whale. 

Bidar : A Kamchatkan word ; an open boat with a 
wooden frame and covered with seal, sea -lion or 
walrus skin. 

Bidarka: A skin canoe of the Aleutians, covered all 
over with the exception of one, two or three circu- 
lar openings to accommodate as many paddlers. 



188 ALASKA. 

Kaiak : Eskimo skin-canoe. 

Katnleika : A Siberian term, water-proof shirt of seal, 
whale or bear gut. 

Parka : A Kamchatkan word; upper garment of fur, 
with small head-opening and sleeves varying in 
length. 

Shaman : A Kamchatkan term for sorcerer or medicine 
man, used by many tribes who once were subject to 
Russian influence. 

Toyon : Kamchatkan term for chief, introduced by Rus- 
sians. Tuyiik and Tookoo with Aleutians and other 
tribes. 

Tundra : A Siberian term, a moor, morass or swampy 
plain, producing a dense growth of mosses and 
grasses over a frozen sub -soil and ice, which does 
not thaw to a greater depth than eighteen inches be- 
low the surface. 

Tiingak : A term used by certain Eskimo tribes for a 
shaman or conjuror. 



APPENDIX D. 



Governor John G. Brady, of Alaska, in his report to 
the Secretary of the Interior for 1897, gives the follow- 
ing as an outfit for two men for fourteen months, food 
and clothing, Sitka, Alaska, prices, August 1, 1897. 

4 barrels best flour at $6 $24.00 

200 pounds granulated sugar, at 6 cents 12.00 

200 pounds navy beans, at 4 cents 8.00 

100 pounds corn meal 2.75 

250 pounds breakfast bacon, at 12J cents 3!-25 



ALASKA. 189 

75 pounds island rice, 6 cents $ 4.50 

2 cases Eagle Milk ^-S 

20 pounds salt .35 

25 pounds best Mocha and Java coffee 8.75 

10 pounds best tea 4.50 

8 pounds soda .70 

20 pounds baking powder 9.20 

25 pounds dried apricots 2.50 

25 pounds dried peaches , 2.50 

25 pounds dried apples 2.25 

2 boxes candles 5.00 

1 box pepper, 25 cents; soap, $1 1.25 

3 boxes yeast, 25 cents, one-half tin matches, 

50 cents 75 

1 Yukon stove, complete 6.00 

3 half-spring shovels 3.00 

3 miner's picks 3.00 

1 double-bladed axe, complete 1.50 

13 oil sacks, 50's and ioo's 7.55 

2 gold pans, $1 ; 1 coffee mill 35 cents 1.35 

1 2 pounds condensed onions 5.00 

10 pounds evaporated spuds 2.50 

40 pounds rope 5.00 

Toilet soap .50 

6 tin plates, 50 cents; 3 granite cups, 50 cents 1.00 

1 coffee-pot, 40 cents ; whetstone, 20 cents ... .60 
Awls, shoe thread, wax, bristles, etc 1.00 

2 fry- pans, $1; fish line and hooks, 50 cents. . . 1.50 

2 pkgs. extract of beef 1.00 

6 assorted files, 60 cents; oil blacking, 50 cents 1.10 

1 package chocolate 30 

2 miner's candlesticks 1 .00 

t iron brace and bits 1.75 

24 pounds raisins, 10 cents 2.40 

Outfit for boat : 
30 pounds nails, $1.50; 5 pounds white lead, 60 

cents 2.10 

Candle wicking, 20 cents ; f-inch auger, $1.25. . . 1.45 

Oakum, 25 cents ; pitch, 25 cents .50 

1 handsaw, $1.50; 1 jack plane, 75 cents 2.25 



190 ALA8KA. 

Paint brush, 25 cents ; 4 candle wicks, 40 cents $ 65 

2 pairs oars, $1.75 ; oarlocks, 40 cents 2.15 

3 pairs heavy wool blankets 20.50 

2 pairs pack straps, $3 ; 1 hand ax, $1 4.00 

2 pairs hip r. boots, leather soles, $6 12.00 

2 pairs high-top lace shoes 7.50 

4 pairs German socks, 75 cents 3.00 

2 pairs lumberman's rubbers 3.00 

2 pairs suspenders 75 

4 suits heavy wool underwear 12.00 

4 dark-blue flannel overshirts 8.00 

4 pairs Mackinaw pants 11.00 

2 pairs Mackinaw coats 6.00 

2 blanket coats 8.00 

1 2 pairs socks, wool 4.50 

6 pairs wool mittens 3.00 

40 yards mosquito netting 1.00 

1 1 buckskin pouches . < 5.00 

1 magnet, 50 cents; 2 pairs goggles, 50 cents 1.00 

2 pairs snow glasses 1 .00 

1 dozen bandana handkerchiefs 1.00 

1 lot spoons, knives and forks 1.35 

1 butcher knife .75 

4 oil blankets 6.00 

1 lot buckets, pans, cooking utensils, etc 3.35 

2 southwesters, $t; tent, $12 , . 1300 

1 41 Colt's revolver and ammunition. ... .... 15.00 

1 Winchester rifle and ammunition 18.00 

2 fur caps 2.50 

1 whipsaw 5.50 

Total $371.60 



ALASKA. 191 



APPENDIX E. 



TABLE OF DISTANCES. 



DISTANCES FROM JUNEAU. 



MILES. 

Haines Mission (Chilkat) 80 

Dyea 100 

Head of canoe navigation 106 

Summit of Chilkoot Pass 114 

Head of Lake Lindernan 123 

Foot of Lake Lindeman : 127 

Head of Lake Bennett 128 

Foot of Lake Bennett 153 

Caribou Crossing 156 

Foot of Tagish Lake 173 

Head of Lake Marsh 178 

Foot of Lake Marsh 197 

Head of Canyon 223 

Foot of Canyon 224 

Head of White Horse Rapids 225 

Tahkeena River 240 

Head of Lake Le Barge 256 

Foot of Lake Le Barge 284 

Hootalinqua 316 

Cassiar Bar 342 

Big Salmon River 349 

Little Salmon River 385 

Five Fingers Rapids 444 

Rink Rapids 450 

Pelly River 503 

White River 599 

Stewart River 609 



192 ALASKA. 

MILES- 

Sixty-Mile Post 629 

Klondike 678 

Fort Reliance 682 

Forty-Mile Post 728 

Fort Cudahy 728 

Circle City 898 

Forty-Mile to Diggings 70 

Circle City to Diggings 50 

Mouth of Cook Inlet 700 

Turnagain Arm 800 

Six-Mile Creek 825 

Funter Bay 47 

Berner Bay 50 

Sitka 140 

Snettisham 32 

Sum Dum 50 

Wrangell 160 



DISTANCES VIA VICTORIA, BRITISH 
COLUMBIA. 



FROM SEATTLE. 

MILES. 

Mary's Island 655 

Metlakahtla 683 

Coring.. . 718 

Fort Wrangell 808 

Juneau 960 

Berner Bay .1,015 

Dyea 1 060 



FROM SITKA. 

MILES. 

Killisnoo 70 

Juneau 160 



ALASKA. 193 

MII.ES. 

Hoona 120 

Dyea 193 

Yakutat 220 

Nutschk (Prince William Sound, direct) 450 

Kadiak 550 

Sunrise City, Cook Inlet 785 

Karluk. . . . , 610 

Sandpoint 880 

Unga 874 

Belkofsky 

Unalaska (Dutch Harbor) 1,150 



FROM UNAXASKA. 

(Dutch Harbor.) 

MILES- 

Seal Islands 240 

St. Michael 850 



APPENDIX F. 



NEWSPAPERS PUBLISHED IN ALASKA. 



The Alaska?i, published at Sitka, weekly. 

North Star, published at Sitka, monthly. 

Alaska Mining Record, published at Juneau, weekly. 

Alaska Searchlight, published at Juneau, weekly. 

Alaska Miner, published at Juneau weekly. 

Northern Light, published at Fort Wrangell, monthly. 



194 



ALASKA. 



APPENDIX G. 



LIST OF POST OFFICES IN ALASKA JANUARY 
i, 1898. 



Chilkat, 

Circle, 

*DOUGLAS, 

Dyea, 

FORT WRANGELL, 

Homer (changed from 

Seward), 
Jackson, 
*JUNEAU, 
Karluk, 
Ketchikan, 
Killisnoo, 
Klawock, 
KODIAK, 



Loring, 

Mary Island, 

Metlakahtla, 

Orca, 

Ounalaska, 

Saint Michaels, 

Sandpoint, 

Saxman, 

Shakan, 

SITKA, 

Skagway, 

Sumdum, 

Tyoonok, 

Unga. 



Nom -Money-order offices in capital letters. 
•^International as well as domestic money-order offices. 



APPENDIX H, 



SCHEDULE OF RATES, PACIFIC COAST STEAM- 
SHIP COMPANY'S STEAMERS. 



San Francisco to Wrangell. 

San Francisco to Juneau 

San Francisco to Sitka 

Puget Sound Ports to Wrangell 
Puget Sound Ports to Juneau.. 
Puget Sound Ports to Sitka 



Cabin 

Passage, 

Single 

Fare. 


Steerage 

Passage, 

Single 

Fare. 


$37.00 


$19 OO 


44.00 
52.00 


23.OO 
28.OO 


25.00 


13.00 


32.00 


17.00 


40.00 


22.00 



ALASKA. 



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